The Hubble telescope, in service for more than 30 years in space, has not worked for several days, NASA announced Friday, indicating to continue
"working to solve the problem".
"The telescope itself and the scientific instruments are in good health,"
reassured the US space agency.
Read also: The Hubble Space Telescope at a standstill
But the computer that controls these instruments
"shut down on Sunday June 13"
at the end of the afternoon, US time.
A test to restart it failed the next day.
The problem would come from a damaged memory module, according to the first indications.
An attempt to switch to a standby module also failed.
The system of this computer was developed in the 1980s. It is carried on board a module which was replaced in 2009 during a maintenance mission on the telescope.
Hubble, launched in 1990, revolutionized astronomy and revolutionized our view of the Universe, accumulating images of the solar system, the Milky Way and galaxies far away.
A new space telescope, James Webb, is to be put into orbit at the end of 2021. Presented as the
“big brother”
of the Hubble telescope, it will allow the distant Universe to be observed with unparalleled precision.
