Gamingdeputy reported on June 5 that NASA announced that the Hubble Space Telescope will enter single gyroscope mode to extend its service life. It is expected to operate until 2035. The Hubble Space Telescope using a single gyroscope will take longer to shift its observation targets.
The Hubble Space Telescope, which has been in operation for more than 30 years, has recently entered safe mode due to abnormal readings from its gyroscope, a key component in the Hubble telescope's aiming observations. NASA announced today thatThe faulty gyroscope could not be repaired, and the failure left only two of the six gyroscopes usable.
However, NASA said in a news release that this does not mean that Hubble will be retired soon.
“Hubble has been observing the universe for three decades and will continue to do so for years to come,” said Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Division and the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, in the release.
Gyroscope problems have plagued the Hubble telescope for years, and astronauts replaced several of them during five servicing missions between 1993 and 2009. Thanks to these servicing missions, Hubble can only have six gyroscopes installed at a time, but has used a total of 22, nine of which have failed.
Hubble's pointing control system normally uses three gyroscopes at once, with three more in reserve, but the system has some redundancy, and the telescope has previously operated in dual-gyro mode, using other sensors to take over the function of the third gyroscope.
NASA officials said:Single gyro mode is also a viable option, with almost no difference in performance compared to dual gyro modeTherefore, Klempin decided that it would be best to use only one gyro for control from now on and keep the other as a backup.
“From an operational perspective, we believe this is the best way to support Hubble science through this decade and into the next, as the majority of its observing activities will not be affected by this change,” he said.
Hubble is expected to switch to single-gyro mode in mid-June, said Patrick Crouse, Hubble project manager at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, adding that barring any unforeseen events, the telescope will continue to operate for some time.
“We updated our reliability assessment of the gyroscopes to assume that a failed gyroscope could no longer be used. The results show that the probability of keeping at least one gyroscope working until 2035 is still over 70%. Therefore, we do not believe that the end of Hubble's life is imminent,” Kraus said.
but,Single gyroscope mode also brings some limitationsKraus pointed out that, for example, it would take longer to switch observation targets, which could result in a reduction in observation efficiency of about 12%.
Hubble will also be limited in the areas of the sky it can observe. Kraus added that it will no longer be able to observe moving targets closer than Mars, “but such targets have never been Hubble's primary targets.”
It should be noted that no matter how long the remaining gyroscopes have a useful life, the mid-2030s may still be the end of the Hubble telescope's life, when atmospheric drag may drag the Hubble telescope into the atmosphere and burn it up.
Gamingdeputy noted that NASA had studied ways to extend the life of the Hubble Telescope, such as planning to use the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to carry out manned missions to raise the orbit of the Hubble Telescope, but this plan has not yet been adopted. “After evaluating current commercial capabilities, we decided not to implement the orbit raising plan for the time being,” Klempin said.
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