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UA9FBV > SAT 04.05.03 17:16l 59 Lines 2028 Bytes #999 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : ANS-124.09
Read: GUEST
Subj: Gyro fails, Hubble goes to Sleep
Path: DB0ZKA<DB0FSG<DB0MAK<DB0MRW<OK0PKL<OK0PPL<RZ6HXA<UA9FBV
Sent: 030504/1409Z @:UA9FBV.PRM.RUS.AS #:34562 [Perm] GATEWAY $:ANS-124.09
From: UA9FBV@UA9FBV.PRM.RUS.AS
To : SAT@AMSAT
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 124.09 From AMSAT HQ
Silver Spring, MD. May 4, 2003
To All Radio Amateurs
BID: $ANS-124.09
The Hubble Space Telescope has gone into an electronic deep sleep, a safe
mode automatically initiated by the spacecraft because of the failure of =
one
of the gyroscopes that is supposed to stabilize the satellite.
A problem, presumably with the gyroscope's motor, prompted the shutdown
sometime Tuesday morning, said officials with NASA and the Space Telescop=
e
Science Institute, the research group that helps operate Hubble.
Engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland were unable to resta=
rt
the failed gyroscope.
Hubble has six gyroscopes, but at least three must work for it to maintai=
n
the position and stability necessary for its very precise observations. T=
he
failed Gyro No. 3, if completely broken, would be the second of the six t=
o
die.
Engineers expected to turn on one of the redundant, or backup, gyroscopes
and get the telescope back to conducting science by late Wednesday night,
said Ed Campion, a spokesman at NASA's Goddard center. If that works, onl=
y
one backup gyro would remain.
"Hubble is a very conservative spacecraft," he said. "When it senses
something is wrong, it goes into this safe mode. We expect it back online
sometime tonight and we should know more by tomorrow morning."
On Tuesday, a program scientist touted accomplishments of the telescope a=
t
the 40th Space Congress going on here this week.
With the boosted capability of an advanced camera installed by spacewalki=
ng
astronauts in 2002, the spacecraft is confirming the universe is expandin=
g
faster than scientists once believed. A few years ago, scientists theoriz=
ed
that after the Big Bang, the universe would keep expanding but at a slowe=
r
rate. Slowly, an accumulation of evidence, including work done with Hubbl=
e,
is suggesting the universe's expansion is speeding up.
[ANS thanks Florida Today for the above information]
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