Breathtaking images of galaxies, planets and constellations. In just 31 years, there were more than one and a half million! And if not for the former employees of NASA, the Hubble telescope could already become history.
Rescue Crisis Head
This story is more like a Hollywood script. The Hubble Space Telescope has photographed more than one unique space event during its 31-year flight inside the solar system. It was originally planned that the automatic observatory in orbit around the Earth (at a distance of about 550 km) will serve science for only 15 years. But the Hubble continues its flight to this day – and has already taken more than 1.5 million mesmerizing pictures! The flight, I must say, this was not devoid of malfunctions, and for three decades various parts failed.
June 13, 2021 “Hubble” completely out of order
However, such a breakdown that occurred on June 13, 2021, when the on-board computer that controls and coordinates the work of scientific instruments went out of order, has probably never happened in history. What happened? The on-board computer stopped responding to commands, as a result, all scientific instruments were automatically put into standby mode. All attempts by scientists at NASA to restart the computer and resume scientific observations were unsuccessful.
It seems that there was no reason for panic. After all, almost all the important elements in the Hubble telescope were also created in a backup copy – just for such an emergency. There was also a backup memory module in it. However, since the launch, which dates back to the distant 1990, no one has resorted to a backup copy. In addition, to turn on such a computer, you still need a little more than just pressing the “On” button. NACE did not know how to start a backup. How is this possible? Let's imagine that there is a box in your basement with memories of childhood and adolescence. It contains an audio cassette (!) With your favorite hits or a floppy disk (!) With old files. And you start to remember if there is still a magnetaphone or a device with a disk drive in the house. A trivial example, but it just clearly shows how quickly technology and our knowledge become obsolete.
For the entire mission of the Hubble telescope, such a breakdown could mean not just a failure, but the end of the flight. The head of the Hubble crisis headquarters urgently gathered former NASA employees. After all, in order to repair the telescope, built in 1980, it was necessary to resort to the help and knowledge of employees throughout the history of the existence of this automatic observatory.
More than 50 people were involved in the rescue action, which lasted for two weeks. Current and former NASA employees first tried to localize the problem. Some retired scientists still remembered (by heart!) Combinations for commands and data processing. Others were able to find the information they needed in technical documents 30 or 40 years ago.
Transfer of knowledge from the past
“This is one of the main advantages of the program, which has been operating for over 30 years, – an unprecedented array of knowledge and experience!”, – says Zinga Tall. According to her, such mutual assistance and symbiosis of old and new knowledge were very inspiring.
And right after restart
Step by step, the scientists worked through the restart of the on-board computer in the simulator located in the control center, while the telescope itself was functioning in a safe mode. And on July 15, 2021, NASA engineers were able to successfully launch backup equipment. The five-week hiatus ended, and just two days later, Hubble took breathtaking new images of galaxies! The telescope is back in service, thanks to NASA retirees.
See also:
Author: Alexander Freund, Marina Borisova
