NASA’s Hubble Telescope to Return to Action Following Gyroscope Issue

The Hubble Space Telescope, orbiting Earth at the top of Earth’s atmosphere, will soon be up and running again. The observatory’s recent gyro issues will come to an end as NASA restarts its work of capturing deep space images.

The trouble started from Nov. 19, when one of the three gyroscopes (out of the initial set of six) that aid the telescope’s orientation began malfunctioning. This device helps ensure that the telescope is facing the correct location in deep space which is vital for obtaining accurate images.

Following this, the telescope entered safe mode on Nov. 19. Although the team managed to fix it the next day, it went into safe mode twice more on Nov. 21 and Nov. 23. The third safe mode entry was concerning due to it being longer than the previous two entries.

However, the observatory can use one gyroscope and, in light of its previous issues, the third safe mode entry was not too alarming. On Dec. 7, NASA confirmed its plans to resume the Hubble for science operations with no less than three gyros.

The observatory can still uncover the secrets of our universe despite the fact that it has been operational for over three decades and a new telescope is in the spotlight. NASA has also announced that it is increasing operations with higher preciseness during scientific observations.

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Monisha Ravisetti is Space.com’s Astronomy Editor. >…
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