NASA working to fix downed Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble has produced some of our most fantastic photos from space, such as this one which shows the "Pillar and Jets" section of the Carina Nebula.

>>AWE INSPIRING: The Hubble's most jaw-dropping images. less The Hubble has produced some of our most fantastic photos from space, such as this one which shows the "Pillar and Jets" section of the Carina Nebula.

>>AWE INSPIRING: The Hubble's most jaw-dropping ... more Image 1 of / 39 Caption Close NASA working to fix downed Hubble Space Telescope 1 / 39 Back to Gallery

The Hubble Space Telescope — credited with altering humankind's understanding of the solar system and how it formed during its almost three decades orbiting Earth — went dark Friday after a mechanical failure.

Hubble put itself into "safe mode" last week after the failure of one of its six gyroscopes, which keep the telescope pointed accurately for extended periods of time as it sends data back to scientists studying space. And NASA said Monday afternoon that the gyroscope's failure wasn't unexpected, as it "had been exhibiting end-of-life behavior for approximately a year."

Hubble needs just three gyroscopes to be fully operational and Friday's failure would have left the telescope with the necessary three — that is, if it weren't for another that was malfunctioning. NASA said Monday afternoon that Hubble would remain in safe mode while officials investigated this further.

"Science operations with Hubble have been suspended while NASA investigates the anomaly," NASA said in a statement. "An Anomaly Review Board, including experts from the Hubble team and industry familiar with the design and performance of this type of gyro, is being formed to investigate this issue and develop the recovery plan."

The telescope can operate — albeit at a lower function — with two, or even just one, working gyroscope. But the events this weekend have left the astronomy community on edge.

During the era when NASA operated its own space shuttles, astronauts could service the telescope, and did so five times before the shuttle program was shuttered in 2011. Now, NASA has no way to get astronauts to the telescope for repairs.

Astronomers are hopeful that the telescope will not go dark for good before its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, leaves Earth's atmosphere — but they're still nervous about it.

If that happens, "it is not good," said University of Texas at Austin's Steven Finkelstein, who has conducted scientific work with Hubble and already is in line to do so with Webb.

Initially expected to launch in 2007, Webb has now been delayed until March 2021 — assuming it gets Congressional approval to continue after development costs breached the $8 billion cap set in 2011.

"There are lots of ground-based telescopes so it's not like we'll be wanting for things to do or observe, but ... a loss like that is just hard to swallow," Finkelstein added.

'Surpassed all of its expectations'

In Hubble's 28 years of orbiting Earth, the telescope has shown the world that the universe is 13.7 billion years old; that planets are formed when dust particles and gas surround a newborn star and become denser and flatter; and that most galaxies harbor super-massive black holes.

"Hubble is one of the most remarkable scientific things humans have ever built," Finkelstein said. "It has surpassed all of its expectations."

But like a car, Hubble was built to be serviced. And for more than a decade, it was.

From 1993 to 2009, five space shuttle missions ferried astronauts to the famed telescope, where they fixed a flawed mirror, installed instruments allowing researchers to probe deeper into the universe and replaced the telescope's solar panels. On three of those missions, gyroscopes also were replaced.

Gyroscopes "are mechanical and just wear out," said Rick Fienberg, a representative for the American Astronomical Society. "It's like your car; you can't drive 100,000 miles on your car with its original brakes."

Astronauts on the last service mission in 2009 knew the shuttle program was coming to end, Fienberg said, so they replaced all six gyroscopes. And one-by-one, those gyroscopes have failed.

Gyroscopes "last at least three or four years and then things start to get a little dicey," Fienberg said. "To go now nine years is pretty impressive."

Friday's failure brings the total number of lost gyroscopes to three. The remaining three are "technically enhanced and therefore expected to have significantly longer operational lives," NASA said in a statement.

But one of those "technically enhanced" gyroscopes had previously been shut off because it was malfunctioning. When NASA tried to turn it back on Monday, officials said it still was not operating correctly.

NASA is studying how to recover the enhanced gyroscope's "operational performance" but if they cannot officials said they were prepared to resume operations using only one gyroscope — with the other working one on reserve — in an already defined plan to keep the telescope operational as long as possible.

Operating with just one gyroscope means the telescope won't be able to lock onto any object it wants, whenever it wants. Some sightings will need to wait for certain parts of the year.

NASA assured the public Monday that "there is relatively limited impact on the overall scientific capabilities," but Fienberg believes otherwise.

Operating with one gyroscope "limits the directions [Hubble] can point and hold steady even further and compromises the available targets pretty badly," he said.

The impact surely will be felt by Finkelstein. He has submitted several proposals to work with Hubble in the future and working with a crippled telescope will be cumbersome.

"My studies can be executed with one gyro, but the efficiency would take a hit," he said. "We certainly need some form of Hubble to get it done, but like I said I'm still hopeful that there are two functioning gyroscopes and we can still squeeze a few years out of Hubble."

Awaiting funding

Finkelstein's research will largely be able to continue even if Hubble goes permanently dark before the James Webb telescope reaches the stars. His project builds on work he's done with Hubble to examine the oldest galaxies in the universe as a way to understand how quickly stars formed into the galaxies and how they evolve over time.

But it's the scientists who hope to conduct research using both telescopes in tandem that will really be hit hard, he said.

The two telescopes originally were meant to overlap each other for a time, with Hubble orbiting Earth and observing visible light while Webb orbits the sun 1 million miles away and operates in the infrared, enabling it to study some of the faintest, youngest galaxies.

But as Hubble ages and James Webb's launch continues to be delayed, this might be less likely.

Webb — which is meant to revolutionize the world's understanding of planet and star formation — initially was expected to launch in 2007 and cost about $500 million. Now, it is expected to launch in 2021 and cost almost $9 billion.

A 10-member Independent Review Board in June found that human errors and other technical issues committed by primary contractor Northrop Grumman — such as missing sun shield screws and leaks in propulsion valves caused by improper cleaning — were a major factor in the delays.

The burgeoning costs have pushed telescope development past the $8 billion development cap set by Congress in 2011, which means the project must be reauthorized in the agency's 2019 fiscal year budget.

That still has not happened. The 2019 fiscal year began Oct. 1, but President Donald Trump last month signed legislation giving NASA temporary funding life until Dec. 7 as Congress continues to hash out the details of the space agency's budget.

"I'm hopeful" that everything will be OK, Finkelstein said.

Alex Stuckey covers NASA and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey.