Hubble to Return to Normal Science Operations: NASA

Washington: NASA has brought Hubble Space Telescope’s seven-year-old backup gyroscope (gyro) back to life after the spacecraft entered safe mode due to a failed gyro earlier this month, the US space agency said on Tuesday. A gyro is a device that measures the speed at which the spacecraft is turning and is needed to help Hubble turn and lock on to new targets. Hubble’s backup gyro, which had been off for more than 7.5 years, was incorrectly returning extremely high rotation rates, NASA said in a statement. After engineering tests have been completed, Hubble is expected to soon return to normal science operations, NASA stated. (IANS)