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Hubble Telescope's Main Camera Shuts Down

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the always-on-the-fritz dept.

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."

10 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. of course not by User+956 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Space.com is reporting that the aging observatory's primary camera, the ACS, has been in safe mode since the weekend.

    No wonder they can't contact it. Safe Mode doesn't support networking by default.

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
  2. Can we trust NASA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    I think it's awfully convenient how the Hubble telescope's camera periodically "shuts down" like this. Could it be the Hubble saw something the government doesn't want us to see?

    We need data feeds from taxpayer-funded equipment like the Hubble to be made freely available so that the public can make their own decisions about the information being gathered.

    I'm inclined to trust NASA for the most part, but in this day and age, what with Habeas Corpus being eroded away, you can't be too careful.

  3. They should just hit F8 on startup by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    and choose "Last known good configuration."

  4. Re:"Aging" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Well ya, it's aging. So is everything else in the universe, at the rate of one second per second. Geez I hate it when reporters use that word to make something sound old.

    Well, they could call it "Saging," but it would make it sound disgusting or offtopic to 4-channers.

  5. Just outsource to China by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 3, Funny

    http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/01/18/china.mis sile/index.html

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  6. Oblig. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    In Soviet Russia... they don't have cameras.

  7. dear advanced computer user. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    by "public data" he means 8mb JPGs with color and false color correction emailed to him at troll@aol.com

  8. Picture quality by Skadet · · Score: 1, Funny

    As long as the photos don't come back at 640x480 in 8-bit color with a "safe mode" watermark in each corner...

    --
    Sony ha
  9. What does that remind me of? by dgr73 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Safe mode. Stopped functioning. Needs to be rebooted to make it work. Anyone for a game of word association?

  10. Hubble tribute song by Bifurcati · · Score: 3, Funny
    Seems like an appropriate time to post a parody I wrote recently. It's not really up to scratch, but you never know when you might need to sing a Hubble tribute! You can also find other physics songs and humour on my home page :)


    Only Me (A Hubble Tribute)
    To the tune of "Only you"
    By Joel Gilmore, 2007

    Looking at the sky up above
    Taking photos with love,
    Can you fix me?
    Found out only yesterday,
    my orbit's soon to decay
    Can't you boost me?

    Chorus:

    All I needed was a manned space flight
    All I needed for another night
    Since 1993 -
    only me.

    If I lose one more gyroscope
    I don't know if I'll cope,
    Send Discovery!
    Install Wide Field Camera 3,
    Spectrograph, batteries,
    My camera's dying!

    Chorus:

    All I needed was a manned space flight
    All I needed for another night
    Until James Webb, there'll be -
    only ME!

    --

    Physicist, consultant, science communicator