NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch.
Nov 22, 2021
NASA continues bringing the Hubble Space Telescope back to normal science operations, most recently recovering the Wide Field Camera 3 instrument Sunday, Nov. 21. This camera will be the second of Hubble’s instruments, after the Advanced Camera for Surveys, to resume science after suspending the spacecraft’s observations Oct. 25. The Wide Field Camera 3's first science observation since the anomaly will be Nov. 23.
Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Image Credit: NASA
The team chose to restore the most heavily used Hubble instrument, the Wide Field Camera 3, which represents more than a third of the spacecraft’s observing time. Engineers also began preparing changes to the instrument parameters, while testing the changes on ground simulators. These changes would allow the instruments to handle several missed synchronization messages while continuing to operate normally if they occur in the future. These changes will first be applied to another instrument, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, to further protect its sensitive far-ultraviolet detector. It will take the team several weeks to complete the testing and upload the changes to the spacecraft.
Although the team has identified no further message losses since monitoring began Nov. 1, NASA is taking extra steps to keep the hardware safe in case the issue reoccurs. Investigation continues into the cause of the missed messages. The remaining Hubble instruments are still in safe mode and the rest of the spacecraft continues to operate as expected.
Related articles:
NASA’s Next Steps to Return Hubble Instruments to Normal Operation Status
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/11/nasas-next-steps-to-return-hubble.html
Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys Instrument Resumes Science, Investigation Continues (Update)
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/11/hubbles-advanced-camera-for-surveys.html
NASA Takes Additional Steps to Investigate Hubble Instruments in Safe Mode
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/11/nasa-takes-additional-steps-to.html
Hubble Remains in Safe Mode, NASA Team Investigating
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/11/hubble-remains-in-safe-mode-nasa-team.html
Related links:
Hubble Space Telescope (HST): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC): https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html
Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Jamie Adkins/Elizabeth Landau/GSFC/Claire Andreoli.
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