Digital Trends By Georgina Torbet 12/4/2021
The Hubble Space Telescope is moving toward recovery after an error caused it to switch into safe mode in late October. Three out of its four (active) instruments are now back up and running as of last week, and no new issues have arisen since the first error was detected.
The problem began on October 25, when there was an error that caused the loss of some data synchronization messages. In order to keep the instruments safe from potentially dangerous erroneous commands, the telescope automatically switched itself to safe mode. This is a mode of only basic operations in which all instruments are shut down.
When the error was discovered, NASA engineers began analyzing the problem and gradually turning instruments on, one at a time, to ensure they can do so safely. In our last update on Hubble, we described how the team had turned on Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and their plan for turning on the other instruments. Since then, the team also turned on the Wide Field Camera 3 instrument, which captures many of the space images for which Hubble is famous, on November 21.
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