On June 13, 2021, the Hubble Space Telescope stopped working due to a problem with its payload computer. This malfunction is probably related to prolonged exposure to radiation from space. Operations are underway to attempt to repair the observatory.
Hubble, which celebrated its 30th year in orbit last year, halted operations on Sunday, June 13, NASA said. According to the mission team, the problem is related to the degradation of one of the memory modules of the payload computer (a standard Spacecraft Computer-1 (NSSC-1) system built in the 1980s) that controls the science instruments at the observatory. This Sunday, the telescope's main computer was no longer receiving data from this payload computer. So he put all of the observatory's instruments into "safe mode" before sending an error message to ground crews.
This memory module was last replaced in 2009 by a team of astronauts during a servicing mission.
"Analysis indicates that the error is likely due to a degraded memory issue", can we read in a press release. “Memory can deteriorate over time due to years of exposure to radiation in space . Issues like this are expected, which is why there are backup memory modules on the spacecraft that we can switch to if needed." .
The mission team is currently in the process of switching to these other memory modules. Once this process is complete, and the observatory has been tested again, it will resume normal operations.
"Assuming this problem is corrected through one of the many options available to the operations team, Hubble should continue to make amazing discoveries until late 2020s or beyond “, told Space.com the operations team of the Goddard Space Flight Center.
This is not the first time that the observatory is experiencing technical problems. A first maintenance mission had indeed been launched in 1993 in an effort to correct an error with the observatory's pointing control system and problems with the shape of its primary mirror. Other missions were then scheduled throughout the U.S. Space Shuttle program.
More recently, last March, Hubble also entered "safe mode" after suffering a software glitch. It then started up again a few days later.
