The observations will resume in the next two days after the engineers have completed the verification and calibration of all scientific instruments
TASS, July 16. NASA engineers have successfully completed the procedure for switching the Hubble orbital observatory to work with a backup onboard computer after part of the spacecraft's electronics failed in mid-June. This was announced on Friday by the press service of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).
"NASA engineers have successfully completed the process of switching Hubble to work with a backup computer. The software was successfully loaded into its memory banks, now specialists are taking the telescope instruments out of safe operation mode and monitoring the correct operation of the equipment, " the report says.
According to the agency's specialists, astronomical observations will be resumed in the next two days after the engineers complete the verification and calibration of all Hubble's scientific instruments and make sure that the optimal temperature is maintained inside them for operation.
Scientific observations using Hubble instruments were completely stopped on June 13 of this year as a result of failures in the operation of the on-board computer of the telescope, which is responsible for executing commands and sending data to Earth. At the same time, the spacecraft itself is in perfect order, its existence is not in danger now.
A subsequent study of the diagnostic data showed that the cause of the failures was the failure of the system that controls the power supply for the entire computer. The first attempts to restore its operation ended unsuccessfully, which forced the mission management to make a decision to include Hubble's backup units capable of performing similar functions.
Having worked out the procedures for turning them on on Earth, NASA specialists sent a set of commands to Hubble earlier this week, which switched the telescope to work with a backup on-board computer, whose power system works correctly. This procedure, as shown by the analysis of incoming data from the telescope, was completed successfully.
