Hubble telescope enters safe mode due to gyroscope problem… Recently, mission disruptions have become more frequent due to the mission being discontinued and parts aging… In case of physical damage, repair is difficult. The Voyager probe is also reaching its limits… Will life expectancy continue to increase? Will it likely leave by 2030?
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and Voyager spacecraft, which have led space exploration since the 20th century, appear to be experiencing increasing operational difficulties. In the case of Hubble, component failures are becoming more frequent, and Voyager also has little power left for communication.
According to NASA on the 9th, the Hubble Space Telescope has been in safe mode since the end of last month due to a problem with the ‘gyroscope’, a component used to adjust the observation direction.
A total of three gyroscopes are operating in Hubble, and if an error occurs in any of them, safe mode automatically operates. When Hubble enters safe mode, all observation activities are halted. However, NASA emphasized that all of Hubble’s equipment is stable and the telescope itself is in good condition.
Hubble went into safe mode three times last month alone. On the 19th and 21st, observation activities were halted due to safe mode operation, and NASA succeeded in recovery work, but on the 23rd, it entered safe mode again.
This is not the first time that Hubble has stopped operating due to a gyroscope problem, but as the safe mode that started on the 23rd of last month lasted for a relatively long time, nearly two weeks, some people raised concerns about Hubble’s condition. However, NASA said that as a result of the inspection, Hubble will be able to resume its observation mission as early as the 8th (local time).
◆Hubble has been observing space for 33 years… If there is physical damage, there is concern that it will be virtually impossible to repair.
Hubble has served as the eye through which humanity observes the universe for over 30 years since its launch in 1990. Initially, a total of 6 gyroscopes that had problems this time were installed, but as time has passed, only 3 are currently operating.
NASA is using three gyroscopes for efficiency, but believes that the observation mission can be performed by operating only one gyroscope when necessary. In particular, it is interpreted that they are trying to adopt a new operating method as the safety mode continues due to the gyroscope problem.
As Hubble has been performing its mission for over 30 years, most of its components, including the gyroscope, are already obsolete. In 2021, an internal computer failure occurred and the mission was halted for about a month.
After the launch of Hubble, NASA used to send astronauts directly to perform repairs, but as all of the space shuttles operated by NASA were retired in 2011, direct repairs have become difficult.
For this reason, some predict that if a problem occurs in Hubble, such as damage to physical parts rather than software, recovery will be virtually impossible. There is a high possibility that its lifespan may not be long due to not only damage but also aging.
◆Voyager has been traveling in space for 46 years… Despite all efforts to extend life expectancy, connectivity is likely to be lost by 2030.
Voyager, the space probe that opened the era of space exploration before Hubble, also experienced turmoil once this year. After extending its lifespan by using reserve power in the first half of this year, communication with the ground was lost last July.
Voyager 2, launched in 1977, has been heading toward deep space for about 46 years, about 19.9 billion km away from Earth. Even after leaving the solar system in 2018, it continues to advance toward space.
The problem of loss of communication occurred after NASA sent a command signal on July 21, when the antenna was unintentionally twisted, causing communication between Voyager 2 and NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) to be interrupted. At the time, Voyager’s antenna was off by only 2 degrees, but because it was so far away from Earth, this difference created a huge error.
Afterwards, through about two weeks of recovery work, NASA succeeded in exchanging command signals called ‘interstellar calls’ with Voyager on August 5. At that time, it took approximately 18.5 hours for the command signal to reach Voyager and receive a response. Voyager was out of contact for two weeks, the longest it had been since launch.
Although the disruption of communication was successfully resolved, concerns about Voyager’s lifespan continue to arise as 46 years have passed since its launch. Moreover, as the Voyager project, which originally started as a four-year project, has become so prolonged, there are more variables.
NASA is already working hard to extend Voyager’s lifespan by utilizing its spare power, turning off broken or less important equipment and drawing on spare power.
Both Voyager 1 and 2 are powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) that converts heat generated from the natural reaction of plutonium 238, a radioactive material, into electricity. It is known that the half-life of plutonium 238 is about 87 years, and its output has already fallen by half.
As a result, Voyager’s lifespan was expected to end around 2025, but it is expected that it will be possible to operate up to 2030 by continuously securing power. In addition, last October, NASA once again attempted to extend Voyager’s lifespan by applying a software update to prevent the accumulation of foreign matter in the probe’s thruster.
Meanwhile, Hubble and Voyager, which are gradually approaching the end of their lives, are credited with taking numerous space photos that are still included in textbooks. Hubble has taken numerous pictures of galaxies, including the ‘Hubble Ultra Deep Field’, in outer space without atmospheric interference.
Voyager, known as ‘the greatest navigator in history’, personally visited all the outer solar system planets (Jupiter-type planets), including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, and sent back information from observations. To date, Voyager 2 is the only probe that has visited Uranus and Neptune, the outermost planets of the solar system.
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