ANP Productions | Source: ANP
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Houston
The old Hubble Space Telescope has a problem. One of the gyroscopes in the device, which ensure that the Hubble rotates properly to image the universe, is experiencing a malfunction. This is the second time in a few months that this has happened.
The American space agency NASA reports that Hubble is on pause and is not taking any measurements for the time being. Flight control on Earth is working on a solution. Hubble once had six gyroscopes, three of which were still in use today. If the malfunctioning part cannot be repaired, the space telescope can continue on one gyroscope, and the other is kept as a spare.
Launched in April 1990, Hubble had an expected lifespan of fifteen years, but it has now been orbiting the Earth for about 34 years, at an altitude of over 500 kilometers. He investigated remote galaxies, among other things, which has given scientists a better picture of the origins of the universe. He also took well-known photographs of distant nebulae.
Technical problems
In recent years the telescope was regularly turned off due to technical problems. The last maintenance was in 2009. It is not known how long the instruments will last. If NASA leaves the space telescope to its fate, it could slowly drift out of orbit and eventually burn up in the atmosphere sometime in the next decade.
As the end of Hubble is approaching, its successor, the James Webb space telescope, was launched at the end of 2021.
