It will probably be possible to restore only about a third of its capacity and it will be necessary to wait for the upgrade task
The Hubble Space Telescope's main camera shut down due to an electrical fault. This is what NASA said on Tuesday. The astronomers call the failure of the Advanced Camera for Surveys a great loss due to the fact that this camera provided the clearest images of the universe.
NASA engineers say that it will be possible to restore only about a third of the camera's function. In any case, NASA is supposed to replace the camera with a more advanced model in the next upgrade mission of the Hubble Space Telescope, which should be carried out in 2008. According to David LeCron, the senior scientist of NASA's Hubble project, the planned upgrade, which also includes replacing the Wide Field Camera No. 2 with Camera No. 3, will not only return the mourning to its current state but will upgrade it.
The malfunction, which is the third since June of this year at the telescope, occurred on January 27. The engineers were able to return the telescope to normal function except for the camera. Now the scientific work will also resume using the other instruments on the Hubble.
The ACS camera allowed astronomers to capture the most comprehensive image of the deep universe to date. Another channel in the same camera made it possible to view stars surrounded by material from which the planets of that system are supposed to form.
The ACS camera is already operating in its backup mode (side B) because the main system of the device, (side A) broke down due to a fault in one of the electronic components in June 2006. A temporary fault paralyzed the camera again in September for a few days, but the system was restored. The managers of the Hubble project say that this week's malfunction is completely unrelated to the previous malfunctions.
