NASA announced that the Hubble Space Telescope is powering back up after ground control was able to initiate protocols to engage a back-up computer system to bypass a failing Power Control Unit, Space.com reports.
The orbital telescope shut down June 13th as the science instruments signaled a glitch, which engineers think was caused by the PCU. Ground controllers spent the last month computer and relaying programming to the telescope to reroute the PCU’s function to other hardware.
“So far so good – just so proud of the @NASAHubble team as I received the updates all day. Assuming continued progress, Hubble will be in science mode later this weekend! Looking forward to that first “after” picture,” Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for the science mission directorate at NASA tweeted.
According to NASA, included in this switch to backup hardware, the team brought the backup PCU online as well as the backup Command Unit/Science Data Formatter (CU/SDF), which is on the other side of the Science Instrument and Command & Data Handling (SI C&DH) unit, according to the statement. The PCU diverts power to the SI C&DH while the CU/SDF formats and then sends data and commands throughout the scope. (JFC, IDK what any of that means, but NASA FTW, IMHO.)
The Hubble was launched in 1990, with an expected lifespan of ten years. In the past 31 years, it has been responsible for helping astronomers to make amazing discoveries through its eye-popping photography and other observations. While NASA has undertaken manned missions to repair and update the platform in the past, there are plans to schedule a new mission to Hubble as new orbital telescopes are planned for launch in the coming years.