The Hubble Space Telescope has resumed science activities in “single gyro” mode after a suspected failure of one of its three remaining gyroscopes. This restart of operations occurred last June 15, although the Hubble team has pointed out that there are “minor limitations”. Engineers will continue to monitor the faulty gyroscope in the hope that it will stabilize and can be put back into use.
Does a single gyroscope mean lower efficiency?
Currently, Hubble operates with a single gyroscope, keeping a second in reserve for possible future use. According to NASA, this single gyro mode of operation reduces efficiency by 12% due to the additional time required to lock onto a science target. The process involves several steps including the use of magnetometers, sun sensors, star trackers, fine guidance sensors and the only operational gyroscope.
In addition to the extra time needed to point the telescope in the right direction, the area of sky that Hubble can observe is reduced. This means that transient events or targets of opportunity, such as an exploding star or an impact on Jupiter could go unnoticed. Also, any object moving closer to Earth than Mars’ orbit may not be detected, since Hubble needs three gyroscopes to track them properly.
NASA estimates that Hubble’s productivity will be reduced by 20% to 25% compared to when it used three gyroscopes. A report from the Space Telescope Science Institute in 2016 had estimated a 25% decrease. Still, a productivity of 75% is significantly better than none and Hubble has been a highly productive observatory for the 34 years since its launch.
What will happen to the Hubble Space Telescope?
A space shuttle was used to service the observatory and the last servicing mission, STS-125, replaced all six gyroscopes. In the 15 years since, four of the six have degraded, forcing engineers to adapt plans developed more than 20 years ago to operate the telescope with fewer gyroscopes.
Although the space shuttles are retired and there are no commercial maintenance missions planned for the veteran observatory, Hubble remains operational. NASA anticipates that it will continue to make discoveries throughout this decade and possibly into the next, working in conjunction with other observatories such as the James Webb Space Telescope for the benefit of mankind.
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Source: theregister
Photo: shutterstock
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