Groundbreaking deep-space astronomy will continue Friday through Hubble?s remaining “eyes,” NASA administrators said.
A second power failure crippled the orbiting observatory?s Advanced Camera for Surveys Saturday, causing the satellite to go into safe mode and temporarily sidelining it?s astronomy mission.
Scientists recovered Hubble from safe mode around 2 a.m. Sunday, according to the NASA release. Science observations will resume using the remaining Hubble instruments: Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, Near Infrared Camera Multi-Object Spectrograph and the Fine Guidance Sensors.
“It is too early to know what influences the ACS anomaly may have on Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission-4 planning,” said Preston Burch, associate director and program manager for the Hubble Space Telescope.
Astronauts will return to the 16-year-old observatory in September 2008 to install three new instruments and repair another that failed in August 2004, according to a release from NASA.
The Advanced Camera for Surveys is a third-generation instrument consisting of three electronic cameras, filters and dispersers that detect light from the ultraviolet to the near infrared. The instrument was installed during a March 2002, servicing mission and produced dramatic views of the early universe in an unusual stepped format by integrating information from all three lenses into one image.
It was developed jointly by NASA?s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Ball Aerospace, Boulder, Colo.; and the Space Telescope Science Institute, also in Baltimore.
One of the camera?s three lenses will be permanently sidelined, according to the NASA release, but the other two can still function.
An Anomaly Review Board was appointed Monday to investigate the instrument failure. The board will perform a thorough investigation and assessment to decide the best course of action. The board is scheduled to present its findings and recommendations by March 2.
