Over a week ago the Hubble Space Telescope went into sleep mode after one of its gyroscopes malfunctioned. NASA will lay out its plan for recovery at a press conference later tonight.
Update: NASA announces Hubble moves to single gyro mode.
While the telescope went into sleep mode over a week ago on May 24, NASA didn’t announce it until Friday, May 31. Yesterday, the agency announced it would lay out its plan for how to continue operating the telescope at a press conference today at 4:00 P.M. ET.
The cause of the stop in scientific observations is due to faulty data being given by one of the telescope’s three gyroscopes. These three gyros help control the positioning of the telescope, with out them, it wouldn’t be able to take its iconic photos. This has been a long reoccurring issue with the spacecraft, which launched to space in 1990 and last serviced in 2009.
“NASA anticipates Hubble will continue making discoveries throughout this decade and possibly into the next,” the agency wrote in a news article about the incident.
On Tuesday, NASA’s director of the Astrophysics Division and Hubble’s Program Manager, will lay out their plan for resuming operations.
The press conference won’t feature any big name members like Administrator Nelson or representatives from SpaceX or the Polaris Program, so it is unlikely the remedy will be approving the free servicing mission Jared Issacman wishes to complete.
It’s more likely than not that NASA will actually not go forward with that mission with an NPR report saying top officials aren’t yet sold.
For now, Hubble remains in sleep mode and healthy, according to the space agency.
