NASA is trying to fix the Hubble telescope's 1980s-era payload computer, which controls, coordinates and monitors its science instruments, after

Hubble telescope remains in 'safe mode' as NASA tries to restart crashed 1980s-era computer

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2021-06-23 17:30:07

NASA is trying to fix the Hubble telescope's 1980s-era payload computer, which controls, coordinates and monitors its science instruments, after it crashed more than a week ago.

"Initial indications pointed to a degrading computer memory module as the source of the computer halt," NASA said in a statement.

"When the operations team attempted to switch to a back-up memory module, however, the command to initiate the backup module failed to complete."

NASA said the computer was "fully redundant" as the telescope had a second that could be switched over if necessary.

"The operations team will be running tests and collecting more information on the system to further isolate the problem," NASA said.

It comes as NASA shared an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of a spiral galaxy with a "fascinating secret hiding in plain sight".

The image of the spiral galaxy NGC 3254 was recorded using Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, which has the capacity to observe ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light, and is a composite of observations taken in visible and infrared spectrums.