Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

Hubble Space Telescope back up and running following software error

By
Add as a preferred source on Google

NASA Hubble Space Telescope
NASA Hubble Space Telescope NASA

The Hubble Space Telescope, in orbit around Earth, paused its operations this week following a software issue. With the issue now resolved, the telescope has begun its scientific operations once more, although one instrument remains suspended for now.

Recommended Videos

Last week, on Sunday, March 7, a software error was detected in the craft’s main computer. The telescope went into safe mode, as it does whenever an error is detected, so the team on the ground could fix the problem.

NASA personnel from the Goddard Space Flight Center found that the problem was due to an error in recently uploaded software that controls the craft’s gyroscopes. These devices measure the speed at which an object is turning and are used to keep the telescope stable. In normal science operations, they are needed to help Hubble lock on to a new target for study.

The recently uploaded software was written to compensate for fluctuations in one of the gyroscopes, but it did not have the permissions to access one part of the computer’s memory which it needed. This lead to the error which triggered the safe mode.

Now that the team knows what the problem is, it can be corrected in a future software update. For now, the team has disabled this particular function so the telescope can continue its work. By Thursday, March 11, Hubble had exited safe mode and resumed its science readings.

However, there is one more issue to fix. One of Hubble’s instruments, the Wide Field Camera 3, experienced an unexpected error. This seems to have happened when the telescope was moved from safe mode into what is called its “pre-science state,” before it entered science mode. The team is now working on getting this instrument back up and running.

“The Hubble Space Telescope returned to science operations on Thursday, March 11 at 8:00 p.m. EST. Wide Field Camera 3 remains suspended while the team investigates a low voltage issue that prevented it from returning to operations,” NASA wrote in a post. “The telescope has completed its first observation since returning to science mode, using the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph instrument to map gas flows in active galactic nuclei.”

Georgina Torbet
Georgina Torbet
Former Space Writer
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
Topics
Amazon’s Starlink rival is set to launch satellite internet later this year
After launching nearly 400 satellites, Amazon says its Leo broadband service will go live later this year.
Atlas V launches 29 Amazon Leo satellites from Cape Canaveral, Florida

Amazon's long-awaited answer to SpaceX's Starlink is finally nearing liftoff. According to an exclusive report from Reuters, the company plans to begin offering its Leo satellite internet service later this year, after its latest rocket launch pushed the constellation to 394 satellites in orbit.

The pieces are finally falling into place for Project Kuiper

Read more
NASA is investing $590 million in private contractors to build humanity’s first Moon outpost
NASA is counting on private companies to land its Moon Base dream.
Artist impression of a Moon Base concept, with solar arrays for energy generation, greenhouses for food production, and habitats shielded with regolith.

Building a permanent base on the Moon sounds like science fiction, but NASA is making it feel a lot more real. The agency just handed $590 million in contracts to three private companies for four uncrewed lunar lander missions launching in late 2028.

These missions are part of Phase 1 of NASA's broader $30 billion Moon Base program, which needs to deliver landers, rovers, and scientific cargo up there before astronauts eventually move in. These efforts are closely tied NASA's Artemis program, which sent humans on a lunar flyby in April for the first time since the Apollo era.

Read more
Getting to Mars may require a pit stop in orbit, and NASA just tested the nozzle to make that happen
A gas pump nozzle for spacecraft sounds simple. It is not, and that's what makes this test worth paying attention to.
Architecture, Building, Factory

Getting a spacecraft to Mars or beyond requires an enormous amount of fuel, most of which has to be hauled from Earth, adding to the overall cost and weight of the spacecraft. NASA has been working on a different approach, one that could be more efficient and effective.

It wants to refuel a spacecraft in orbit before heading out for the mission. What’s even more interesting is that the space agency just finished testing a component that could make that possible: a cryocoupler.

Read more