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Hubble Camera Lost "For Good"

Posted by kdawson on from the blind-eye dept.

Several readers wrote in to tell us, following up on the recent story of the shutting down of Hubble's main camera, that program engineers are now saying that the camera is probably gone for good. The trouble resulted from a short circuit on Saturday in Hubble's most popular instrument, the Advanced Camera for Surveys. NASA engineers reported Monday that most of the camera's capabilities, including the ability to take the sort of deep cosmic postcards that have inspired the public, had probably been lost. We'll be pining for more of those amazing images until the James Webb launches in 2013.
Update: 01/30 23:28 GMT by KD : Reader Involved astronomer wrote in with an addendum / clarification to this story: "I'm a grant-funded astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute (www.stsci.edu) in Baltimore. I am very concerned that the article conveys the wrong idea about HST. While HST's science capacity is diminished with the loss of ACS, HST lives on and will continue to produce world-class science, even before its servicing mission in Sept. 2008, which will upgrade the instrument suite with the most sophisticated imagers in history." Read on for the rest of his note. I'd like to point out these facts:
  1. A fuse blew on ACS side two electronics — This will LIKELY (we're not 100% sure yet) render the Wide-field channel and the High-resolution channel (e.g. 2/3rds of the camera) inoperable. The solar blind channel will likely be returned to operation.
  2. While we have lost (2/3rds) of ACS, NICMOS and WFPC2, two fantastic imagers, are still operational. WFPC2 is responsible for many of the gorgeous images that grace many of your desktop wallpapers.
  3. ACS had an expected lifetime of 5 years. It met that lifetime. The loss of ACS, while of course disappointing, is not necessarily a shock.
  4. Servicing mission 4 is currently scheduled for Sept. 2008. It will upgrade HST to never-before-seen scientific capability and productivity. The Wide-Field Camera 3, which will be installed then, will essentially be an even more sophisticated successor to ACS.
In short, the reports of Hubble's demise are GREATLY exaggerated. She will continue to produce world-class science and incredible images. While we are disappointed with the (apparent) loss of ACS, HST will live on well into the next decade.

You can view one of our press releases on this here: http://hubblesite.org/acs/.

7 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. Not really . . . by cashman73 · · Score: -1, Troll

    It's not really, "lost for good." They could fix it, probably at a cost about 20 times less than the original one, with new technology. But Dubya needs money for the, "War in Iraq," or the, "War on Terror," instead.

    1. Re:Not really . . . by soft_guy · · Score: -1, Troll

      My problem with the administration (and Congress) was that it cut NASA's funding. My problem with them is they didn't zero out Nasa's funding (and a lot of other useless agencies). Seriously, they are a waste of money.
      --
      Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
  2. Conspiracy theory by LineGrunt · · Score: 0, Troll

    Gee...

    NASA wants to end the Hubble Mission.

    Public demands that it stay on-line.

    NASA says that "Hubble is saved."

    Main "pretty picture" instrument dies...

    Hmmm...

  3. Re:Looks like my wallpaper won't be changing for a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    "I'm sure many other people did this too."

    Why do you assume that just because you like to do something, other people do also?

    That's yet another indication of my basic thesis that all humans are little megalomaniacal selfish arrogant pricks.

  4. Hubble gone is no real loss by gd23ka · · Score: 0, Troll

    Access to Hubble has always been severely limited and imagery and other data
    was screened by NASA. Even images transmitted to the ground were encrypted.

  5. Finally, the first step towards the elimination of by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    NASA. Hopefully the hubble's orbit will decay crash into the the White House in the USian Capitol to take out the USian dictator. Then the Fucktarded USians will call for the elimination of NASA!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!

    GO AHEAD, FUCKING FLAME AWAY OR WASTE YOUR GODDAMED MOD POINTS FUCKTARDED SHITDOT SHEEPLE!

  6. Re:and yet... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Why the fuck is that our problem? A bunch of stupid niggers who have been historically incapable of building or maintaining civilizations are hardly our concern. Nature will sort them out.

    Civilization was built on the backs of evolutionary superiors. We need not go back to banging on bongo drums just because a bunch of evolutionary left-behinds cannot get their shit together.