Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

NASA Revives Main Hubble Telescope Camera 111

Posted by Zonk from the i-can-see-you-again dept.
antikarma writes "NASA engineers successfully activated the Advanced Camera for Surveys at 9:12 a.m. EDT Friday aboard the agency's Hubble Space Telescope. Checkout was completed at 10:20 a.m. EDT with science observations scheduled to resume Sunday, July 2. 'This is the best possible news,' said Ed Ruitberg, deputy associate director for the Astrophysics Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 'We were confident we could work through the camera issue, and now we can get back to doing more incredible science with the camera.'"
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

NASA Revives Main Hubble Telescope Camera More

NASA Revives Main Hubble Telescope Camera

Comments Filter:

  • To Science (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ckwop ( 707653 ) * on Friday June 30, 2006 @07:30PM (#15640411) Homepage

    Due to Iraq and George Bush , most people in Western Europe have a little distain for the American Government. In fact, where I live, people often break in to an American accent when they do something stupid. I imagine this is because everyone sees Channel 4 news where we see the "Answers from Genesis museum" and thinks: "Only the stupid could indulge such nonsense."

    With that necessary rant taken well and truly aside, I want to thank American for doing what no-one else can afford to do: put real science equipment in to space. It's your taxes that pay for the Hubble Space Telescope. This is a project that has furthered science in a very unique way. It is project that Galileo would have dreamed of. It is a marvel, a temple ,even, to science.....

    With all the gratitude in my heart, I still feel America confuses me. To paraphrase the film Contact: "It is capable of such beautiful dreams and such horrible nightmares." It is a land of contradiction; of promise and of despair. It is of science,and religion, of the smart and the idiot. It's is so huge that it contradicts and astounds. It is the country where opposites can be equally true.

    As a British man, I love America and I hope the feeling is mutual. I raise this glass to the future of Science and hope you will raise your glass too! To Science!

    Simon.

    • and europeans think americans are arrogant!
    • I love fish and chips, IPA, bitter, and I love you too!

    • Re:To Science (Score:5, Funny)

      by mordors9 ( 665662 ) on Friday June 30, 2006 @07:44PM (#15640484)
      Gee, so we are complicated ;-) There are still people that think the English are evil because of their conquest of the globe. Anyway, back to the article. I would encourage everyone to check out this month's issue of Scientific American. It has some outstanding photos from Hubble.

    • Hubble is a joint project by NASA and ESA (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      It's not all American.


    • Maybe it is the Iraqi petroleum that puts the real science equipment into space.

      America has lovable and detestable feautures in it, I agree with that but I really don`t think that it is the American people who put the equipment there.

      • Re:To Science (Score:1, Insightful)

        by cliffhanger407 ( 974949 )
        not to make you think that i support the war in iraq and all the "iraqi oil" we've gained (and also not to be a troll), but it's most definately american people who put the satellite there. the US has lost an absurd amount of money into the war in iraq and has gotten nothing out of it. if we were getting a plethora of oil from iraq, do you really think that we'd be paying $3 a gallon when before the war it was in the mid $1 range? But to the topic at hand. I know that hubble has a great impact on what peopl
    • As a British man, I love America and I hope the feeling is mutual. I raise this glass to the future of Science and hope you will raise your glass too! To Science!

      At long last, some sign of approval [theonion.com] from our parent country after all these long hard years! I'm going to tear up.

      But really, cheers! :)

    • It is of science, and religion, of the smart and the idiot.

      Sounds like that applies to a wider domain than America.
      Maybe even all of /.

    • Thank you.

      "As a British man, I love America and I hope the feeling is mutual."

      err, I love you to, as a friend. Any other kind of love is going to require your sister.

      SCIENCE!
    • While I agree the US does fund alot of space science so does Europe, ESA funded about 15% of the Hubble. Long may the co-operation continue.
    • Space? There's no money in space! The telescope is just making long distance NSFW internet porn NSFW [vobbo.com] easier and easier.

    • Oddly enough, the smart guys in movies always seem to have british accents...go figure.
    • Look at the vast geography and the disparity between different groups of people here. You're more likely to understand the USA if you don't consider it in the same light as a single European country -- most of which are the size of one of our states.

      In a day, I can travel by car across most of western Europe, through vastly different populations and beliefs. Here, it can take me that long to traverse Texas. Driving 24 hours on, 8 hours off, it took me 3 and half days to drive from Phoenix to Boston. Where would that take you in Europe?

      Where I live in Maine, I find great similarities to the Bavarian countryside. You surely couldn't say that about the desert southwest in the USA.

      A certain Austrian, having been elected leader of Germany some years back assumed that our differences would prevent us ever even agreeing with each other enough to be a serious player on the world scene -- let alone threaten his plans for world domination. That was as big a mistake as his election in the first place.

      Our states and our divergent people are like a big Italian family. There are always some who don't speak to others, big traumatic fights, and long held grudges -- but when faced with a threat from outside, nearly instant, unified, reactionary, over response is close at hand to deal with that threat.

      --31
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • HA! I knew it. I keep asking and people keep telling me that most of us don't have an accent to outside people. I couldn't understand how it could be possible that Welshmen sound so funny to us but we don't to them. Then again, Welshman probably sound funny to everybody, and a Texas accent and an American accent aren't the same thing.

      Yes the feeling is mutual. If I may comment, however, I think the expectations for America are really high, partially because of our own pride, partially because of a blesse
    • Dear Sir,

      I regret to remind you that America (hence Americans) is also responsible for Microsoft. People around the world don't have to watch channel 4 to hate us. They just have to switch on their PC.

      Sincerely,
      -F

    • Re:To Science (Score:2, Interesting)

      by jnhtx ( 87543 )
      I guess every /. thread is about bashing America, no matter what the source article is.

      As a Texan who had the happiness of owning a home in England for three years, I'd have to say I love the UK but it often disappoints.

      The biggest difference between Americans and Brits is the sheep-like willingness of the average Brit to give up a lot of liberty for a little security. England really is a nation of girlie men. That's fine, but then they turn around and and join American moonbats in the ridiculous Bush-Hit
      • Thanks for your informative post, countries like England scare the shit out of me. Police state indeed, sounds like the whole country is one giant prison.
        • "Thanks for your informative post, countries like England scare the shit out of me. Police state indeed, sounds like the whole country is one giant prison."

          It's more like one giant nursery for slow children.
    • I don't see what was "necessary" about your rant.

      Besides space science, the American taxpayer has paid dearly to protect your sorry asses from totalitarianism at least twice. Most people in Western Europe would be speaking either German or Russian if not for the American government and the American people.
    • One should not be confused about America. It's an awesome country full of millions of amazing, clever, talented people.

      That explains all that is good - like the subject at hand.

      Unfortunately, America is currently being run by a class of lying, corrupt, dishonest, essentially murderous, crooks.....headed by one G W Bush.

      This eplains much that is bad - even lethal.

      Americans have difficulty changing this situation because:

      1. Their highly concentrated (in ownership terms) media support Bush for their own profit

  • They really had to do this (Score:5, Funny)

    by roman_mir ( 125474 ) on Friday June 30, 2006 @07:30PM (#15640413) Homepage Journal
    Because all they could see without that telescope camera was this:

    Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.
  • From the "I-can-see-you-now" department, about a camera on the hubble being fixed. Click on story and get "Nothing to see here. Please move along"

    Are we sure it's fixed?
    • It's not "fixed". The activation was done using the backup controller (Side 2).

      I don't think the engineers know the cause yet. They probably will figure out when the instrument is retrieved from the HST and be brought down to the ground (if that ever happens).

  • Let me be among the first to exclaim "Yay!" Like, totally forsooth and verily!

    I was just in the biggest funk about this and not just because the DVD on the new Sky and Telescope reminded me of what we'd be missing. I know there's all sorts of swell and really keen new stuff on the way, but I've just got so used to going to bed at night, snug and secure in the knowledge that the big guy was still up there looking for spiffy cosmic phenomena.

    I for one rewelcome our HST overlord.

  • pure admiration (Score:5, Interesting)

    by kyc ( 984418 ) on Friday June 30, 2006 @07:42PM (#15640471)

    Whenever I think of the galaxies, outer space or human observation to these I cannot help the feeling of awe and admiration. I checked out the pictures on the web-site and I felt like I was watching Kubrick`s Oddysey. I imagine and see ( thanks to 10 times more powerful Hubble`s objectives ) the vast galaxies, millions of stars and the light reflected from them and converted to miliwatts of electrical energy in the human brain. I see the real physics out there, intersecting its ways with philosphy. That is really something different from what they do in solid state, or applied physics.

    Hubble and its even more powerful descendants will enlighten the secrets of universe, ....and before I get even more theological , let me get out of here

  • Did he actually say the "a href" and sutff?

    Quote marks are supposed to mean that it's a quote :P

  • MST3k (Score:3, Funny)

    by monkaduck ( 902823 ) on Friday June 30, 2006 @07:49PM (#15640515)
    So Mike didn't break the Hubble after all!
  • "Today at 10:20 the Hubble main telescope found a planet of supermodels who want to give us a clean power source and worship us like gods."
    That's the best possible news.

  • Hubble (Score:3, Insightful)

    by paynesmanor ( 982732 ) on Friday June 30, 2006 @08:17PM (#15640633)
    Looking back what would have been cheaper? To launch a new better one that don't need costly repairs? Or to keep repairing one that was out of date before it actually worked? Hmm, Where's the math whizz when you need him?
    • Since option one is imaginary, I'm having a hard time computing the result. Complex numbers are scary, man.

      (Shortcut to any offended math geeks: I know my comment makes no sense mathematically. Thanks for eschewing the explanations.)
      • (Shortcut to any offended math geeks: I know my comment makes no sense mathematically. Thanks for eschewing the explanations.)

        It's OK. I just rotated your post 90 degrees to the x, y, and z axes and it made perfect sense.
    • Ummmm, lets see. First, each service mission costs about 100 million dollars. The Hubble cost between 2 and 3 Billion dollars. It was designed to be serviced and maintained for over 20 years. To build something which wouldn't need servicing for 20 years would probably triple or quintuple the costs. Before you speak (or write), think about what you are about to say or speak. You would look less foolish that way.
    • They put spinners [westcoastw...actory.com] on it, and they just keep on turning.

    • Re:Hubble (Score:3, Insightful)

      by DerekLyons ( 302214 )

      Looking back what would have been cheaper? To launch a new better one that don't need costly repairs? Or to keep repairing one that was out of date before it actually worked? Hmm, Where's the math whizz when you need him?

      The problem is - it's not a straigtforward black and white accounting problem. There's a fair bit of psychology and politics in there as well.

      It's easier to get money for a project already in progress, especially one showing results and with a high level of public popularity. I

    • I found that the total cost for Hubble from conception to present, is about 4.5 billion. The new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/ [nasa.gov] (Hubble's replacement) has a estimated cost of 4.5 billion.

  • Ode to the Hubble repair crew (Score:3, Interesting)

    by davidwr ( 791652 ) on Friday June 30, 2006 @09:57PM (#15640989) Homepage Journal
    [Tune: Amazing Grace]

    Eye in space, soon to be gone,
    We can't just let it be.
    It once was off but now is on
    Was blind, but now can see.
  • How about a little injection from the Buffet crew. It would appear that with a tenth of the donation, we could have a couple new and upgraded Hubbles watching the sky. Heck, just about any one of hundreds of companies could give us some. Sure fixing AIDS and having a T-shirt is important considering we have had these luxuries for some time and want the world to stay alive, but what about those of us who are responsible and provide the backbone. Our entertainment surely isn't earthly given the realities. Whe

  • i-can-see-you-again dept. (Score:3, Funny)

    by glass_window ( 207262 ) on Friday June 30, 2006 @10:55PM (#15641186)
    Should have been from the "can-you-see-me-now dept"

  • ah, they "activated" it, did they? (Score:3, Funny)

    by misanthrope101 ( 253915 ) on Friday June 30, 2006 @11:30PM (#15641297)
    So that's what we're calling it these days. In reality, they flew someone up there to whack the thingamaflotchit on the side a few times, twist the rabbit-ears to a different position, and if all else failed, a swift kick to the side of the cabinet. All of the above were accompanied by a steady stream of verbal abuse and profanity, followed by pleas of "pretty please, damn you, you piece of..." If there is another way that anything has ever gotten fixed, I am unaware of it. But I guess NASA is facing a budget crisis like everyone else (except Haliburton, natch) so they have to tell us that they "activated" it, via high-tech, very smart methodology and stuff. Thanks for the info, rocket guys. Gotcha. What a bunch of dweebs.
  • I wish they would find a better and easier way to service Hubble.
    Even though it got off to a rough start, it's been one of the best things NASA ever put into space.
    Sure, it will be superceded in the future with something better but even so, it's a magnificent tool and
    should be kept in service as long as physically possible.

  • ACS not repaired; revived using the backup mode (Score:4, Informative)

    by helioquake ( 841463 ) * on Saturday July 01, 2006 @12:45AM (#15641543) Journal
    The Hubble's ACS is not repaired; they made the decision that it would not harm the rest of the instrument by activating the backup electronic controller (Side 2).

    Historically speaking this marks the half-life time of the mission. It has operated for four years; I expect it to work 3 to 5 more years now.

    I don't know if the controllers (Sides 1 and 2) are identical; it wasn't for the STIS and they need to run a series of re-calibration before resuming its science operations. I hope that isn't the case here. I'm supposed to use that camera this month and next.

Slashdot Top Deals

Love may laugh at locksmiths, but he has a profound respect for money bags. -- Sidney Paternoster, "The Folly of the Wise"

Close