\n<\/p>\n
Thirty-four years is a long time for a telescope. Yet, that is how long the veteran workhorse of NASA\u2019s space telescope fleet has been operating. Admittedly, Hubble was served by several repair missions during the space shuttle era. Still, the system has been floating in the void and taking some of humanity\u2019s most breathtaking pictures ever captured since April 24th, 1990. But now, time seems to be finally catching up with it, as NASA plans to limit some of its operations to ensure its continued life, starting with gyroscopes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Hubble has six gyroscopes, which are intended to help it orient in the right direction and ensure it stays oriented in that direction while it takes the extremely long-exposure, detailed images it is famous for. The six gyroscopes currently installed replaced six older ones during the final shuttle servicing mission in 2009. As one of the few moving components on Hubble, lasting 15 years without maintenance is pretty impressive.<\/p>\n That being said, not all of them lasted that long \u2013 only three are operational at this point, with the other three having failed at some point over the last 15 years. And on May 24th, the telescope was sent into safe mode by another failed gyro. This isn\u2019t the first time that particular problem has happened either. Previous errors caused by the same gyro have caused Hubble to go into safe mode multiple times over the past few months. While engineers can reset it, the same problem repeatedly happening means it will probably continue.<\/p>\n \n