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October started out rough for NASA with the failure of the Hubble and Chandra observatories in the space of a calendar week. However, Hubble is coming back online afterward the team got its backup gyroscope working once more. Now, Chandra is working again subsequently NASA engineers implemented a ready for its gyroscope issues. NASA tin again browse the sky for X-rays.

Chandra is 1 of iv missions in NASA'due south Great Observatories program forth with Hubble, the Spitzer Infinite Telescope, and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. The first three are still functional, only the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory failed in 2000 due to a bad gyroscope. Yes, these components are problematic, simply yous need them to determine which manner the spacecraft is pointing via angular momentum. They have to spin continuously, and they just wear out eventually.

Luckily, Chandra's gyroscope issue was less severe than Hubble's. With Hubble, NASA was unable to get a backup gyroscope online after the erstwhile one failed, then it might not have had the three it needed for full functioning. Chandra reported an fault and shut down unexpectedly, but NASA quickly tracked the cause to a bad gyroscope. On October. 10, one of the observatory's gyros recorded three seconds of corrupted data, which threw off the onboard estimator's momentum calculation. The incorrect values caused safe mode to actuate, preventing damage to the telescope.

NASA says it has successfully brought Chandra back to full operational chapters later activating a new backup gyroscope. The i that caused the error in the first place might still work fine, merely the team has decided to identify information technology in reserve since at that place were unused gyroscopes that definitely wouldn't record corrupted data. NASA might attempt to reactivate the "bad" gyroscope in the future as a last resort to keep Chandra active equally more hardware fails.

The Galactic Core of the Milky Way - composite image taken by Spitzer, Hubble, and Chandra telescopes

The Galactic Core of the Milky Style – composite image taken past Spitzer, Hubble, and Chandra telescopes

The squad executed a series of maneuvers with the new hardware online to make sure Chandra could become its bearings correctly. Over the side by side week, NASA will fine-tune the spacecraft'due south new gyroscope configuration and upload a new software patch that will adjust the computer configuration.

This quick fix ways Chandra should remain functional for years to come — NASA believes the rest of its gyroscopes are in good working condition and have plenty of life left. Chandra started operating nineteen years ago, so information technology'due south already far outlived the original five-yr mission profile. Even if it died tomorrow, it would still be an amazing success.

At present read: NASA May Accept Fixed Hubble By Shaking Information technology and Turning Information technology Off and On, NASA Report Blames Boeing Mismanagement for SLS Delays, and Soyuz Crew Performs Ballistic Reentry After Booster Fails During Launch