NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Faces Gyroscope Setback
- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is operating with just one gyroscope, limiting its scientific capabilities.
- Despite the setback, NASA expects the telescope to keep working well into the 2030s.
- The future observations from the Hubble Space Telescope may be impacted due to the equipment failure.
Hubble Space Telescope had trouble with one of its gyroscopes, which are important for aiming and locking onto targets. This made mission managers switch to a backup control mode to keep the telescope running until the 2030s. They decided not to use a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft to boost Hubble to a higher altitude for now, as they need to do more research to see if it's worth the risk. Hubble had an error in its primary mirror when it was launched, causing a problem called spherical aberration. The telescope originally had six gyroscopes, but by 2020, only three of the older ones were working. With one gyroscope not functioning well, Hubble could only observe half the sky at a time instead of the usual 85%. Engineers decided to operate Hubble with just one gyroscope, keeping another as a backup. Due to the malfunctioning gyroscope, Hubble went into a hibernating state. NASA tried to fix it but failed, so now the telescope will operate with only one gyroscope, limiting its scientific capabilities until mid-June. The decision not to boost Hubble to a higher orbit was made to avoid risks, even though it could extend the telescope's life. Hubble was launched in 1990 with a blurry vision issue, but repairs in 2009 improved its performance. The James Webb Space Telescope, launched in 2021, is the successor to Hubble and aims to continue Hubble's legacy by exploring deeper into space and time.