NASA engineers fix Hubble main camera

Engineers successfully restarted the main camera aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, U.S. space agency NASA reported on Friday.

The Advanced Camera for Surveys conked out on June 19, when NASA engineers received indications that power supply voltages were below acceptable limits, causing the camera to stop functioning.

The engineers then unplugged the instrument to investigate the problem and determine the appropriate remedy. Hubble observations continued using other onboard science instruments.

After discovering a bad transistor responsible for the trouble and replacing it with a backup, engineers began uploading commands to the instrument on Thursday in an effort to restore operational status.

Initial checkout showed that the repair was successful. The camera's science observations have been scheduled to resume on Sunday, NASA said.

"This is the best possible news," said Ed Ruitberg, deputy associate director for the Astrophysics Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

"We were confident we could work through the camera issue, and now we can get back to doing more incredible science with the camera," he added in a statement.

The third-generation Hubble instrument consists of three electronic cameras, filters and dispersers that detect light from the ultraviolet to the near infrared. Astronauts aboard NASA's shuttle Columbia installed the camera during a service mission in March, 2002.

Source: Xinhua