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Hubble Telescope's Main Camera Shuts Down
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."
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.
Hubble 486 cpu must finally gave out
Wasn't the shuttle scheduled to do one-last service call on Hubble? This is despite NASA's foot-dragging
and originally deciding NOT to service it and just retire it.
Gee, if it's fried, then they can't do a normal maintenance and can save $100M on a launch....
And if it's just been told to "roll over and play dead"......
please NASA, for the love of Christ, deorbit this piece of shit before it turns into a huge hunk of space debris. Deorbit it while it is still functioning enough to receive the commands and perform the maneuver. Of course, knowing NASA, they'll wait too long and then there will have to be a manned mission to go up and fix the shit enough for a proper deorbit. Mark my words, folks.
"According to NASA officials, the Hubble onboard computer reported an error with the Alpha-Echo 35 unit and called for a human to repair it."
The summary clearly states that the article clearly states that the problem is with an input power feed, and not with the 486 used to control the cameras:
'An initial investigation indicates the camera has stopped functioning, and the input power feed to its Side B electronics package has failed.'
Microsoft will take a new approach toward mid-size companies it suspects of using unlicensed software, sending a series of letters culminating in a threat of legal action from the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a company official said today. By involving the BSA, which is an advocate for copyright and intellectual property issues, Microsoft is hoping to "spark off the engagement" with its customers, said Ram Dhaliwal, Microsoft's licensing programs manager in the UK. "If they are using our software, we are simply going to ask them to pay for it," said Dhaliwal, whose group runs the company's Software Asset Management (SAM) programme. In the past, Microsoft contacted companies by phone or email and asked to come in and audit their software. Microsoft contends companies have an incentive to have legally licensed software, and its audit and asset management teams also can look for ways the company can save money, he said. Most companies comply, but up to 3 percent don't. Under the new programme, if Microsoft doesn't receive a response after 14 days, the company will send a succession of three "escalation" letters over three weeks. The last two letters warn the case could be turned over the BSA, which could pursue legal action, Dhaliwal said. Microsoft is targeting companies with around 250 PCs in the initiative. Companies of that size often have problems with using incorrectly licensed and counterfeit software, Dhaliwal said. Microsoft keeps purchase records for volume-licence customers, and those lists can reveal usage inconsistencies, Dhaliwal said. For example, a company with 250 PCs may be flagged if it bought several server licences but only two client-access licences, which are required to connect desktops to an Exchange email server. "At that point, if the customer point blank is refusing and or telling us he doesn't want to talk with us and we are seeing this large discrepancy, that's when we will engage the BSA," Dhaliwal said. The BSA has 100 piracy investigations ongoing against UK businesses, it said last month. Some 27 percent of the software used by UK businesses is illegal, the BSA said, citing statistics from market analyst IDC. So far, Microsoft will use the new approach only in the UK, Dhaliwal said. Jackson at the Brit Awards in 1996. At the 1996 Brit Awards, Jackson performed the track "Earth Song", dressed in white and surrounded by children and an actor portraying a Rabbi. In an attempt to recreate a scene from the video - where he is spreading his arms between two trees - it seemed that Jackson was making Christ-like poses whilst being lifted into the air by a crane with a wind machine blowing back his hair. Pulp lead singer Jarvis Cocker and his friend Peter Mansell mounted a stage invasion in protest. Cocker leapt onstage, pretended to expose his rear, danced and sat back down. In response to the ensuing media scrutiny of the action, Cocker responded, "My actions were a form of protest at the way Michael Jackson sees himself as some kind of Christ-like figure with the power of healing... I just ran on the stage and showed off... All I was trying to do was make a point and do something that lots of other people would have loved to have done if only they'd dared."[40] Cocker received vocal support from the British press: the March 2, 1996 edition of Melody Maker, for example, suggested Cocker should be knighted, while Noel Gallagher claimed "Jarvis Cocker is a star and he should be given MBE." Gallagher said of Jackson's behavior: "for Michael Jackson to come over to this country after what's all gone on - and I think we all know what I'm talking about here - to dress in a white robe, right, thinking he's the Messiah - I mean who does he think he is? Me?"[41] The cover of Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix. In 1997, Jackson released an album of new material with remixes of hit singles from HIStory titled Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix.[37] The album's five original songs were named "Blood On The Dance Floor", "Is It Scary?", "Ghosts", "Superfly Sister" and "Mo
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.
Just a suggestion: If they reboot into the boot menu and choose "Safe Mode with Networking" then the telescope might be able to authenticate into the domain and we'd be able to RDP into the optics and pwn it.
Just a suggestion.
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
and choose "Last known good configuration."
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.
Since they have already said that repair missions to the hubble scope are off the agenda, sooner or later its going to die. There are replacements on the way anyhow.
Personally I think they should boost it into higher orbit so it stays safe for future space archeologists. The same bods who will eventually be interested in retreiving the Viking missions, and who knows, if we get fast enough ships, the voyagers.
No biggie. Just F8 on startup
The Hubble is down?!?! How will Google Maps take more pictures??
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/01/18/china.mis sile/index.html
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Maybe they shouldn't have installed Sony batteries in the camera.
A game has objectives and is competitive, anything else is just play
Hmm, did defunct Chinese weather satelite debris damage Hubble?..
...I do not think it means what you think it means.
In Soviet Russia... they don't have cameras.
Assuming the space shuttle is retired after 2010, which seriously looks unlikely, how would they keep it alive? Soyuz and Shenzou are the only vehicles with air locks.
It looks like the space shuttle is going to be around long after 2010 and Hubble repairs may continue indefinitely. The appropriations for replacing the shuttle were finally canceled and there's too much voter pressure to fund low Earth orbit science.
RTFA: It was restored from safemode on Sunday -.-
They are hoping to switch it back over to the primary power supply and get limited usage until the shuttle gets there.
"Dictator Flakes. They WILL be delicious."
by "public data" he means 8mb JPGs with color and false color correction emailed to him at troll@aol.com
It shorted, and burned enough plastic or wiring to trip the overpressure sensor (do wire shorts smell in space?). See this message from the Space Telescope Science Institute. Side A electronics are available which might be able to run a portion of the instrument. This has been expected since the first failure last summer, and "contingency" proposals are available to keep the observatory running using its other instruments (ACS has recently been the most used).
We have a telescope in orbit that's servicable. It seems to me that the big, expensive part of this marvel would be the large optical reflector. Unless someone could point out a reason otherwise, would it not make sense to just keep making camera upgrades to put on the end of this thing? Yes, I realize that I may be oversimplying this procedure, but if it's not feasible to service it in the near future, is there something wrong with tucking it away in a safe orbit until it would become feasible...or clearly determine that the telescope has reached the end of its useful life and then de-orbit it?
Heck, if privatized, manned spaceflight is just around the corner, sell the silly thing to a private entity so they can fix it up and sell operating (viewing) time on it. Richard Branson and his ilk could have a field day with it.
I guess they'll have to edit out the "Safe Mode" words in each corner of every picture it'll take from now on...
Hope they're in more than 16 colours!
the ACS, has been in safe mode since the weekend
Oh no, it runs Windows?!?
China have a demonstrated ability to kill a satellite. Why not use this to get Hubble, or for that matter, any other satellite down?
NASA have proven their inability to produce the right transport for many jobs. The shuttle is woefully old, unreliable, expensive and inappropriate for many of the tasks it is used for. Likely much of the reason is that NASA is not a scienfici or engineering body, it is by its own name an **administration**. Rather than try do everything themselves or pork-barrel subcontractors, it can make a lot of sense to just outsource work to people who have cheaper technology.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
How is Globeco Space Dynamics a wholly owned subsidiary of Pepsico-Halliburton-Virgin Atlantic-ELF Aquitane going to worry about some damn space telescope for a bunch of scientists who don't have any money? Are you guys high? Seriously
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
Main camera turn on! Sorry. :P
I hope it is fixable. Hubble is pretty cool.
Safe mode. Stopped functioning. Needs to be rebooted to make it work. Anyone for a game of word association?
The Advanced Camera for Surveys wasn't installed until the third servicing mission in 2002. It's been problematic since then. If it can be installed on a spacewalk, it can be replaced on a spacewalk.
Also, the Hubble servicing mission has been approved. Barring some act of God or Congress, Atlantis will conduct this mission on STS-125 in May of 2008. The ACS was not on the itinerary for service, but it might still be possible to add it to the agenda or push back the mission date if need be. On the other hand, it might be possible to work around whatever problem caused the latest shutdown, the third according to Wikipedia.
I should point out the foot dragging was largely spurred on by calls for the retirement of the shuttle as soon as possible (even immediately) and some general hysteria following the Columbia incident (as opposed to the rational re-examination that also took place). There is also the issue of the cost, which is in the range of hundreds of millions and had not been provided for, and a difference of philosophy between O'Keefe (administrator until 2005) and Griffin (current admin). Mission development is fully provided for in 2007, and should be in the 2008 budget, too.
If Hubble was going to roll over and play dead, it should've done so back in mid-2005, before more money had been spent on the servicing mission.
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 parent is not informative, it is wrong, or at least out of date.
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 which has not been cancelled.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
None of the up coming space telescopes, nor anything on the ground can do what this machine can do. The new projects look for different things and the ground based systems can't look at a single point in space for a long duration image set. Check out this video, it blew me away:
Having the datastream (raw, not the processed images), from NASA satellites freely available would eliminate any chance that they might try to "protect" us from something we may or may not be ready for. Chances are (and its 1000-1), that this has never occured, but honestly...if they DID see something strange, really strange, would they show us? The answer is they probably wouldn't, not unless we were "ready".
Jargon alert for non specialists: ACS = Advanced Camera for Surveys; WFC = Wide Field Camera; HRC = High Resolution Camera; SBC = Solar Blind Channel; CCD = charge coupled device; WFPC2 = Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (an older instrument); STScI = Space Telescope Science Institute; and GSFC = Goddard Space Flight Center.
"I will take the Ring," he said, "though I do not know the way."
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
No Hubble thread would be complete without the Hubble Deep Field, the Hubble Deep Field South and the Hubble Ultra Deep Field.
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
Most satellites have redundancy built in to them in order to have a back when i a main component fails. Take a communications satellite, if the signal amp dies a redundant one is available to be turned on by its earth based ground control using a series of complicated procedures. With something as unique and complicated as the Hubble it is no surprise that there is either no yet written procedure for how to do this or they want to diagnose what caused the failure to prevent it from happening to the auxiliary unit.
As to the planned shuttle service it may be that it include a fuel up to replenish the thruster fuel which possibly would have run out with the complicated positioning required to do some of its many studies of what is in space.
The new ACS, with 4x pixels, has been sitting on a shelf ready to go for 4 years now.
The astronauts are already practicing the 6-hour job that will allow
them to fix STIS. It involves unscrewing 100+ non-captive
screws in micro-gravity, something that was never accounted for during
the original design.
I work at STScI and it sounds like they're going to be able to switch ACS back to the side 1 power supply. Unfortunately, it means that the WFC which is the most used won't be working. A failure of the side 1 supply to WFC is why they had to switch to side 2 this summer.
The good news is that WFPC2 is still working even if it doesn't have the imaging area or sensitivity of ACS. The telescope allocation committee just re-opened applications for next cycle so lots of people are just going to switch their proposals from using ACS to using WFPC2 (myself included). As a side note: anyone can apply for telescope time since its run with taxpayer money. Just go to the site and fill out the form.
The other good news is that the servicing mission is going ahead for early 2008 when they're going to put in WFPC3 which is a bit better than ACS and will have much lower distortions and a great new spectrograph called COS. That'll take HST to the end of its life in 2013. At that point, the next space telescope, JWST, will be launched. In case you're wondering though, JWST will have a much shorter life since it won't be possible to service it.
So yeah, it sucks that ACS smoked itself but it's not the end of the world.
This is a tragedy and the first step in the decommission process. NASA is terribly underfunded already (Hey..all those guys NEED $289 toilet seats...) and this will be just one more excuse to cut back more. The Hubble is the best project NASA has right now and for the forseeable future (get it...?) :)
http://www.kontentdesign.com/
I heard an update from a Lookheed Martin engineer last week.
Orion is on schedule, a bit overweight within design tolerances.
This engineer will be doing a field test of the emergency escape system in 2008.