Hubble Telescope to go back online after NASA repair job

The Hubble Telescope is set to go back online after NASA was able to repair it following last month’s technical issues.

“Congrats to the team! The @NASAHubble team has successfully switched to backup hardware on the telescope, including powering on the backup payload computer,” Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s science mission chief, tweeted on Friday.

Congrats to the team! The @NASAHubble team has successfully switched to backup hardware on the telescope, including powering on the backup payload computer. Now, they are monitoring the hardware to ensure everything is working properly. More to come soon: https://t.co/VKaBMW0h4q pic.twitter.com/hhl3vtoBex

— Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ) July 16, 2021

Backup equipment on the telescope was successfully switched on Thursday, including the payload computer, and is a sign scientific discovery will soon be made again on the decades-old machine, a NASA press release stated.

NASA is monitoring the telescope further to ensure no more issues will arise. It will be a few more days before normal science operations can occur. 

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland has been working to fix the telescope since June, when scientists believed the problem was a bad memory board.