Hubble Telescope's Main Camera Shuts Down 131
anthemaniac writes "Space.com is reporting that the aging observatory's primary camera, the ACS, has been in safe mode since the weekend. From the article: 'An initial investigation indicates the camera has stopped functioning, and the input power feed to its Side B electronics package has failed.' The camera has shut down before and been revived."
Re:What a huge POS (Score:5, Interesting)
That would be a good thing for Nasa to do.
Re:Can we trust NASA? (Score:5, Interesting)
The HST Data Archive (HDA) [stsci.edu] has always been available to the public, albeit after a one-year "proprietary rights" period.
At least it's in warranty! (Score:3, Interesting)
FTA:
In all seriousness, though, it's worth noting that this camera is comparatively new (installed 12 years after launch) and that it's failed more or less on schedule. Too bad NASA doesn't plan on sending a mission until next year. Also worth noting is that it's not the only instrument on the telescope... though it is the one that takes the purty pictures that garner mainstream attention.
The shuttle will be retired on schedule (Score:4, Interesting)
The Space Shuttle will be retired upon completion of the ISS. NASA will be taking steps over the coming years which would prevent almost any extension of the currently planned flight schedule, like reconfiguring launch pads to support the future vehicles, retiring shuttle craft as they complete their scheduled missions, caniballizing said vehicles for parts, and refraining from ordering parts like external tanks and solid rocket boosters which would be required to extend the schedule by even one flight.
The shuttle will cease operations regardless of the status of replacement vehicles. Although many planned technology programs intended to help replace the shuttle with a more reliable and cost effective system were cancelled over the years, NASA is currently pursuing a manned vehicle program, Orion [wikipedia.org] which has not been cancelled.
Re:Funny? (Score:4, Interesting)
I am still miffed after reading another story elsewhere about what we pay football coaches versus what we pay the president of the college.
We'll get what we pay for. Maybe the average American feels tougher football games are more important to our society than scientific research.
Most do not want to take the time to study science... but in the end, its the laws of nature ( applied science ) that will determine the temperature of my house, the operation of my car, and whether or not I eat. In short, my whole life is determined by my and other's knowledge of applying science.
Maybe pretty pictures of the stars isn't deemed particulary useful. The pictures are only the frosting. The important thing to me is gaining more and more understanding of materials and physics governing them. Technologies developed are useful for many things, especially medical and agricultural.
I feel that as an intelligent species, it behooves us to understand the universe around us and our place in it. By observing phenomena happening somewhere else, it will help us to intelligently react if it happens to us.
Re:Why Keep it going? (Score:2, Interesting)
Tragedy (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:The shuttle will be retired on schedule (Score:1, Interesting)
True enough. In fact, there has been a lot of discussion over the past year or so as to how astronomers could use the building NASA Moon infrastructure to do astrophysical science. There was a conference at STScI back in November on this topic. Turns out there are some very good reasons not to put a telescope on the lunar surface, but some excellent reasons to use the developing heavy-lift capacity for larger space-based systems and the Earth-Moon L1 point as a staging area for potential servicing.
http://www.stsci.edu/institute/center/information