Hubble Telescope for activities due to technical problems; understand

O Hubble telescope entered into safety mode on April 23 due to failures with one of the instrument's gyroscopes. The pause in scientific operations had already taken place (and been resolved) in November 2023 due to the same problem. NASA stated that it is working to resume operations.

The gyroscope measures the telescope's rotation rates and is part of the system that determines the direction in which it is pointed. Only three are used at a time and the spacecraft automatically goes into safe mode when one of them gives erroneous readings.

Six new gyroscopes were installed during Hubble's last maintenance in 2009. Three devices are used to maximize efficiency, but, if necessary, configurations can be made so that scientific observations can be made with just one.

One day after the incident, the 24th, the telescope celebrated the 34th anniversary of its launch, in 1990.

Hubble was placed in orbit to overcome the difficulties of observing space directly from the surface of our planet, such as pollution and the blocking that Earth does to some wavelengths. In its location, the telescope avoids these interferences and is able to generate images with more details and faithful to reality.

Source: CNN Brasil

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