Bad news for the cause of science - the Hubble Space Telescope has lost some functionality over last weekend. It went into a special Safe Mode, and needs servicing to be a full capacity again.
Slashdot users’ reactions were mixed:
User 956 (568564) on Monday January 29, @04:55PM (#17806264)
“Space.com is reporting that the aging observatory’s primary camera, the ACS, has been in safe mode since the weekend.”No wonder they can’t contact it. Safe Mode doesn’t support networking by default.
I guess if you’ve ever used Windows 95, you’ll get the joke. Naturally, HST doesn’t use Windows 95, thank goodness.
Alp73: “Gee, if it’s fried, then they can’t do a normal maintenance and can save $100M on a launch….”
I think keeping the world’s most famous and in my opinion best space telescope [not counting the Mars Global Surveyor type cameras] in operation, is vital to maintaining public awareness of space research and discovery.
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brem | 30-Jan-07 at 2:06 pm | Permalink
Hubble has been nothing but trouble from the start. However, it served its purpose.
Time for Hubble 2.0?
Rosie | 30-Jan-07 at 4:41 pm | Permalink
hey saskboy,
off topic but thanks for nominating me for LC’s top ten. Made me feel “speshul”.
DazzlinDino | 30-Jan-07 at 7:59 pm | Permalink
It’s probably programmed in basic or pascal, it’s old enough. I’ll go fix it….
Werner Patels | 30-Jan-07 at 9:26 pm | Permalink
Send Scotty to fix it — his ashes have been up there since October or so.
Saskboy | 30-Jan-07 at 10:07 pm | Permalink
Brem, it has been trouble, but it’s been a great tool, useful for showing us how not to do some things in space exploration, and also how to do repairs in space on something that doesn’t kill astronauts if the innards fail.
Rosie you’re welcome.
Dazzlin, not if Scotty beats you to it.
Ya canna change the laws of physics!