spacetoday.net: Hubble camera revived

Hubble camera revived

Posted: Sat, Jul 1, 2006, 10:50 AM ET (1450 GMT)
Hubble Space Telescope (NASA)

A key instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope has been turned back on and should resume operations on Sunday, NASA announced Friday. The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instrument on Hubble shut down on June 19 because of a power supply problem. After studying the problem, spacecraft engineers decided to switch to a backup power supply for the instrument, and turned it back on Friday morning. The instrument powered up normally and should begin scientific observations at 8 pm EDT Sunday (0000 GMT Monday). The telescope continued to operate during this time, performing observations with its other instruments, but the ACS is considered to be the workhorse instrument on the orbiting telescope.