NASA’s Hubble Telescope just lost its most important feature-Wide Field Camera 3 pending an unspecified hardware issue. The engineers at this space agency are unlikely to take care of the satellite’s issues immediately, given the fact that government is about to shutdown.
Hubble’s main camera stopped functioning on Tuesday while other instruments continue functioning. This breakdown might not be a major shock for the Hubble as it carries a system backup with electronics that get activated in critical cases of malfunction. As, of now, it’s unclear if and when this camera shall be fixed.
The ongoing shutdown episode of US government might throw a shard into works. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center located at Greenbelt, Maryland has now been closed. This is where the Hubble mission was being operated. Only a small portion of the center is being allowed to function as employees actively monitor the telescope.
Thomas Zurbuchen, the head at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate mentioned that this breakdown actually highlights importance of having a dedicated team and amazing experts working to keep the Hubble completely functional. However, this pointed out to the fact that any and all of space systems come with limited lifespan.
