DodoFinance Breaking News Made For You!
Hubble’s computer system dates from the 1980s and manages on-board measuring instruments. Flight control is investigating what is going on, reports the space agency NASA.
Backup system
The Hubble was supposed to be last summer too to be arrested. Then, the power supply to a computer on board the satellite failed. It took NASA a month to find the problem and the Hubble was able to switch to a backup system.
Launched in April 1990, Hubble has orbit the Earth for over 31 years at an altitude of over 500 kilometers. The telescope examined distant galaxies, among others, giving scientists a better picture of the origin of the universe.
Burning in the atmosphere
The Hubble received its last service in 2009. It is not known how long the instruments will last. If NASA abandons the space telescope, it could slowly come out of orbit and end up burning in the atmosphere over the next decade.
Hubble Successor
The successor to the Hubble is expected to go into space at the end of this year. It’s the James Webb Space Telescope, built by the United States, Europe and Canada.
The new telescope will not revolve around the earth, like Hubble, but around the sun, 1.5 million kilometers from earth. There, the James Webb must search for planets where life might be possible, distant galaxies and traces of the Big Bang.
