Because no ground commands were able to reset the PCU, the Hubble team will be switching over to the backup side of the SI C&DH unit that contains the backup PCU...
The switch will begin Thursday, July 15, and, if successful, it will take several days to completely return the observatory to normal science operations.
The team performed a similar switch in 2008, which allowed Hubble to continue normal science operations...
Send up the Geek Squad they’ll NOT FIX IT
Just send the shuttle up and fix it
I’ve had a theory about the Hubble for a long time. Remember after it first went up, there was some kind of imperfection in the huge mirror that made the images less than perfect? And the fix required a spacewalk and then the images were astounding. I always thought it was odd that (1) they’d send this multi-billion $$$ device up there with a flaw they weren’t aware of, and (2) this flaw to this huge, precise mirror was so easy to fix that it could be done with a spacewalk and the limitations that presents.
So I think they engineered a way to make the images imperfect, so that they could have a spacewalk to “fix” them, showing how important NASA was, when in reality, the fix was right there in the device already.
I think this is the same thing. This issue with the computer will be used to argue that they just have to have a manned flight to go up and replace the computer that failed.
What will NASA do when the backup power control unit fails and there is nothing left? Another repair mission to replace the entire control system? How, with no shuttle? SpaceX Dragon? Branson conduct a flyby and throw a swapout unit at Hubble as he streaks by? Bezos fly his Dr. Evil spacecraft to the telescope and fix it with Amazon private label replacement parts?
Maybe NASA will just return to its primary mission: Muslim outreach.
Probably the latest Windows 10 update.
Waiting for the James Webb Telescope to Launch.
It’s only three years behind its original Launch Schedule. If there is any problem with it, too bad. It will be a Million Miles from the Earth when it is deployed.
Even better, it will Launched using a French Ariane Rocket. What could possibly go wrong?
Maybe someday they will build a large Telescope on the Moon. No atmosphere to worry about and it could be maintained by Manned Missions if not a Base of Operations.
Dreamer, nothing but a Dreamer...
Waiting for the James Webb Telescope to Launch.
It’s only three years behind its original Launch Schedule. If there is any problem with it, too bad. It will be a Million Miles from the Earth when it is deployed.
Even better, it will Launched using a French Ariane Rocket. What could possibly go wrong?
Maybe someday they will build a large Telescope on the Moon. No atmosphere to worry about and it could be maintained by Manned Missions if not a Base of Operations.
Dreamer, nothing but a Dreamer...
Here’s something I heard just the other day. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory astrophysicist Saul Perlmutter has been talking to Elon Musk about retro-fitting an entire Starship as a giant Hubble II.
Resolution is claimed to be 10x that of the original.
I called and offered NASA an extended warranty, but they stupidly refused it.
If only we had a manned space vehicle, that could take astronauts up there to repair it.
We could call it, a Space Shuttle, or something.