NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Returns to Science Operations

Updated, Dec. 8, 2023

NASA restored the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope to science operations Friday, Dec. 8. The telescope had paused science observations Nov. 23 due to an issue with one of its gyros. The spacecraft is in good health and once again operating using all three of its gyros.

Hubble’s two main cameras, Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys, resumed science observations Friday. The team is planning to restore operations to the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph later this month.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to Resume Science Operations Soon

Updated, Dec. 7, 2023

NASA plans to restore the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope to science operations Friday, Dec. 8, following a series of tests to gain insight into the gyro performance that caused the spacecraft to pause science operations last week. 

After analyzing the data, the team has determined science operations can resume under three-gyro control. Based on the performance observed during the tests, the team has decided to operate the gyros in a higher-precision mode during science observations. Hubble’s instruments and the observatory itself remain stable and in good health. 

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Pauses Science Due to Gyro Issue

Published Nov. 29, 2023

NASA is working to resume science operations of the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope after it entered safe mode Nov. 23 due to an ongoing gyroscope (gyro) issue. Hubble’s instruments are stable, and the telescope is in good health.

The telescope automatically entered safe mode when one of its three gyroscopes gave faulty readings. The gyros measure the telescope’s turn rates and are part of the system that determines which direction the telescope is pointed. While in safe mode, science operations are suspended, and the telescope waits for new directions from the ground.

Hubble first went into safe mode Nov. 19. Although the operations team successfully recovered the spacecraft to resume observations the following day, the unstable gyro caused the observatory to suspend science operations once again Nov. 21. Following a successful recovery, Hubble entered safe mode again Nov. 23.

The team is now running tests to characterize the issue and develop solutions. If necessary, the spacecraft can be re-configured to operate with only one gyro. The spacecraft had six new gyros installed during the fifth and final space shuttle servicing mission in 2009. To date, three of those gyros remain operational, including the gyro currently experiencing fluctuations. Hubble uses three gyros to maximize efficiency, but could continue to make science observations with only one gyro if required.

NASA anticipates Hubble will continue making groundbreaking discoveries, working with other observatories, such as the agency’s James Webb Space Telescope, throughout this decade and possibly into the next.

Launched in 1990, Hubble has been observing the universe for more than 33 years. Read more about some of Hubble’s greatest scientific discoveries.

Media Contacts:

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Alise Fisher
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Galaxies Stories

James Webb Space Telescope

Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…

Stars Stories

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…

NASA to Participate in Next Private Astronaut Mission News Conference

NASA experts will join a virtual news conference hosted by Axiom Space at 10 a.m. EST Wednesday, Dec. 13, to discuss the launch of Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3), the third private astronaut mission to the International Space Station.

The Ax-3 launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft is targeted no earlier than January 2024 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

During the mission, which includes about 14 days aboard the space station, the four-person multi-national crew will complete more than 30 research experiments developed for microgravity in collaboration with organizations across the globe.

Briefing participants are:

• Joel Montalbano, manager, International Space Station Program, NASA
• Angela Hart, manager, Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program, NASA
• Matt Ondler, president, Axiom Space
• Michael López-Alegría, chief astronaut and Ax-3 commander, Axiom Space
• Sarah Walker, director, Dragon Mission Management, SpaceX
• Col. Valerio Anastasi, chief of space programs and capabilities office, Italian Air Force
• Yusuf Kıraç, president, TUA (Turkish Space Agency)
• Frank De Winne, head of the European astronaut center, ESA (European Space Agency)

Media must register for the mission overview news conference by 1 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 12, at:

https://bit.ly/46J3Q5T

In addition to former NASA astronaut López-Alegría commanding the private mission, Walter Villadei of Italy will serve as pilot. The two mission specialists are Alper Gezeravci of Turkey and ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut Marcus Wandt of Sweden.

NASA’s goal is to enable a strong, commercial marketplace in low Earth orbit where the agency is one of many customers for private industry. The agency recently released its third request for information with proposed requirements for commercial space station services and awarded agreements to advance additional capabilities.

Learn how NASA is fostering a robust commercial low Earth orbit economy at:

https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/commercial-space/

-end-

Joshua Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov

Rebecca Turkington
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
rebecca.turkington@nasa.gov

Alexis DeJarnette
Alexis@axiomspace.com

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Roxana Bardan

Prepare to Fly with a NASA Pilot

Get ready with Kurt Blankenship, a pilot at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, as he prepares for a research mission high above the clouds. Check out how the crew plan the route and goals, what it takes to get NASA’s Pilatus PC-12 aircraft in tip-top shape, and even what type of flight suits our pilots are rocking.  

These missions are integral to advancing communications technology and supporting NASA’s efforts to map out a safe, accessible, and affordable new air transportation system. Learn more.   

Credit: NASA/Steven Logan 

Explore More

1 min read

November Retirements

Article


21 hours ago

2 min read

NASA Podcasts Now Available on Spotify 

Article


2 days ago

2 min read

NASA Glenn Director, NASA Astronaut Visit Pittsburgh

Article


2 days ago

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Kelly M. Matter

Hubble Captures a Cluster in the Cloud

This striking Hubble Space Telescope image shows the densely packed globular cluster known as NGC 2210, which is situated in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The LMC lies about 157,000 light-years from Earth and is a so-called satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, meaning that the two galaxies are gravitationally bound. Globular clusters are very stable, tightly bound clusters of thousands or even millions of stars. Their stability means that they can last a long time, and therefore globular clusters are often studied to investigate potentially very old stellar populations. 

In fact, 2017 research using some of the data that were also used to build this image revealed that a sample of LMC globular clusters were incredibly close in age to some of the oldest stellar clusters found in the Milky Way’s halo. They found that NGC 2210 specifically probably clocks in at around 11.6 billion years old. Even though this is only a couple of billion years younger than the universe itself, it made NGC 2210 by far the youngest globular cluster in their sample. All other LMC globular clusters studied in the same work were found to be even older, with four of them over 13 billion years old. This tells astronomers that the oldest globular clusters in the LMC formed contemporaneously with the oldest clusters in the Milky Way, even though the two galaxies formed independently. 

As well as being a source of interesting research, this old-but-relatively-young cluster is also extremely beautiful, with its highly concentrated population of stars. The night sky would look very different from the perspective of an inhabitant of a planet orbiting one of the stars in a globular cluster’s center: the sky would appear to be stuffed full of stars, in a stellar environment that is thousands of times more crowded than our own.

LEARN MORE:

Text credit: European Space Agency

Media Contact:

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Galaxies Stories

Stars Stories

James Webb Space Telescope

Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the…

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…

MAF Status 2022-07-07 08:54

2022-07-07 08:54

Current Status: Open – HURCON V

The Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) is open.

For more information about the NASA Framework for Return to On-Site Work visit nasapeople.nasa.gov.

MAF urges it’s employees to be safe at all times. 

MAF is currently in Hurricane Condition V (Tropical Storm Readiness)

Hurricane Season is in effect from June 1st to November 30th. Please make sure that you have work and personal plan.

GET A GAME PLAN AND BE PREPARED

For more planning information, please refer to http://getagameplan.org for information and sign up for the MAF Alert system for up to date MAF emergency information. Visit member.everbridge.net/index/892807736729046#/event or text MAFALERT to 888777 to register for alerts.

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…
Marcelo Dasilva