NASA revives Hubble's payload computer with hardware backup; read details

NASA scientists successfully switched to Hubble Space Telescope's backup hardware after facing a glitch for several weeks. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on July 16, Friday resumed services after powering in the backup payload computer. The good news came in the following weeks of investigation after the system halted on June 16. The official NASA Hubble official Twitter account updated the approved plans to switch the hardware on July 15.

Hubble's glitch, most severe in years

The Hubble Space Telescope shut down on June 16 due to a glitch in their payload computer from the 1980s that handles the telescope's science instruments. Technical issues pertaining to Hubble occurred due to the spacecraft's Power Control Unit (PCU), the backup hardware was installed and the Telescope was revived. According to NASA's statement, the team is now closely monitoring the activities of the hardware to ensure that everything is working properly. The statement added that the team is also working on the process for recovering the science instruments out of their safe mode configuration. The activity will go on for more than a day since the team is occupied with various procedures and ensures the instruments are at stable temperatures.

Success after multiple diagnoses

The investigation team conducted multiple tests to diagnose the problem on the Hubble Space Telescope. As initial problems, NASA discovered issues with computer memory and prepared to study the Standard Interface hardware (STINT) and the Central Processing Module (CPM). The results of memory modules indicated that a different piece of computer hardware had caused the problem, with the memory errors being only a symptom. "The operations team investigated whether the Standard Interface (STINT) hardware, which bridges communications between the computer’s Central Processing Module (CPM) and other components or the CPM itself is responsible for the issue," NASA updated.

Several astronomical projects stood still as experts tried to fix the high-tech Telescope back. The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on April 25, 1990, to understand galaxies, comets, and stars for over 31years. It has immensely contributed to the obstructed study of planets and stars which are some billion light-years away.

(Input: NASA/Twitter)