NASA Hubble Space Telescope Shuts Down After Big Glitch; Safe Mode Activated

Did NASA Hubble Space Telescope malfunction? Last Monday, many of Hubble's science instruments entered into safe mode due to synchronization issues. All of its science observations temporarily got suspended as the research team investigated on the issue.

The NASA Hubble Space Telescope is arguably one of the most iconic spacecraft up to date. It is a space observatory project built by the international cooperation of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and ESA (European Space Agency). It is also an extremely old telescope, well over three decades old!

According to Hubblesite, the telescope first launched on April 24, 1990. It has a mission to observe and investigate dynamic celestial bodies like stars or galaxies. Researchers also aims to study the history and evolution of the universe through Hubble's technology.

Hubble has worked well in these last few years and contributed many discoveries to science and space. Unfortunately, it also showed signs of aging with several issues--with its most recent one, making a lot of researchers worried.

NASA Hubble Space Telescope Glitch

On Tuesday, Hubble's social media page tweeted an update about the space telescope. It said the spacecraft entered into safe mode after "experiencing synchronization issues with internal spacecraft communications." The glitch suspended all of the space telescope's activities.

Fortunately, its instruments remain in good health.

According to EarthSky, while in safe mode, Hubble will stop pointing towards its targets and suspend its data collection. It will, however, stay powered via solar panels. This should give the researchers the time to work through the technical problems.

Keep in mind that Hubble is a very busy telescope. Its discoveries are shared to many different space agencies, so every second of its observation counts. This glitch suspension unfortuantely suspended a lot of research that relies on Hubble's data, which is why they hope for a swift fix.

At the time of writing, Hubble has yet to confirm if the issue has been fully resolved. However, Hubble also tweeted a "space pumpkin" post in celebration of National Pumpkin Day, so the safety mode issue might not be too severe.

NASA Hubble Images: A Spiral Starburst Galaxy

Earlier this month, Hubble discovered an interesting celestial phenomenon called the starburst galaxy. The event got its name because of the rapid star formations happening in its system. Even better, the galaxy called NGC 4666 created an extreme galactic weather called superwind. Hubble tweeted an image of the event.

While spiral galaxies are fairly common, it is definitely one of the most beautiful images in space. These is only one of the many photos that Hubble took of the galaxy. Space fans and researchers hope that the space telescope will get fixed so it can continue to observe the fantastic phenomena in space.