Washington: The Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched in 1990 and changed our vision of the universe, has been down for the past few days, informed NASA.
The problem is a payload computer that stopped working last Sunday, the US space agency said.
It insisted the telescope itself and scientific instruments that accompany it are “in good health.”
“The payload computer’s purpose is to control and coordinate the science instruments and monitor them for health and safety purposes,” NASA said.
An attempt to restart it on Monday failed.
NASA said initial evidence pointed to a degrading computer memory module as the source of the computer problem.
An attempt to switch to a back-up memory module also failed.
The technology for the payload computer dates back to the 1980s, and it was replaced during maintenance work in 2009.
Nasa plans to launch Hubble’s more powerful successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, in November this year.
