A Week Later, And Hubble Remains In "Safe" Mode. Could Be Degraded Circuits Now...

We wish it weren't so, but the venerable Hubble space telescope may be. . . seeing an end of life cycle. That is, its circuits may be damaged (including redundant circuits) and so may now, via either the cold, or the radiation of space. . . be permanently. . . glitchy.

We hope not, but we should be preparing ourselves for that probability. Here is the latest from NASA | JPL:

. . .Hubble’s science instruments issued error codes at 1:46 a.m. EDT Oct. 23, indicating the loss of a specific synchronization message. This message provides timing information the instruments use to correctly respond to data requests and commands. The mission team reset the instruments, resuming science operations the following morning.

At 2:38 a.m. EDT, Oct. 25, the science instruments again issued error codes indicating multiple losses of synchronization messages. As a result, the science instruments autonomously entered safe mode states as programmed.

Mission team members are evaluating spacecraft data and system diagrams to better understand the synchronization issue and how to address it. They also are developing and testing procedures to collect additional data from the spacecraft. These activities are expected to take at least one week. . . .

So that puts us out to at least November 8, 2021 -- before we know if NASA has a planned fix. Onward, just the same. Time -- and life -- just march. . . onward. And that is a good thing -- get busy with the next thing, or fade away, and die -- with the last thing. . . . smile.

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