NASA needs more time to check backup computer, Hubble mission delayed

William Atkins
Friday, 31 October 2008 04:27

Science - Space

NASA announced on Thursday, October 30, 2008, that it will not be launching space shuttle Atlantis and its STS-125 crew in February 2009. The U.S. space agency has been unable to complete all the work necessary to flight certify the SIC&DH computer that is to replace the failed one onboard the Hubble Space Telescope.


The Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4 (HST-SM04), or commonly named STS-125, is to be the fifth and final service and repair mission to Hubble.

The flight was ready to leave in October (October 14 to be specific) when an unexpected anomaly happened onboard the Hubble on September 27, 2008.

In order to fix the Science Instrument Command & Data Handling (SIC&DH) computer that failed onboard Hubble, NASA was preparing to replace it with a backup one that has been sitting around gathering dust at the Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt, Maryland) since 1991.

NASA and contractor personnel earlier performed an assessment of the work required to get this backup SIC&DH computer flight ready.

According to the NASA media release (from October 30, 2008) “NASA managers delay Hubble servicing mission,” the director of the NASA Astrophysics Division, Jon Morse, stated, “We now have done enough analysis of all the things that need to happen with the flight spare unit to know that we cannot be ready for a February launch.”

Morse added, “The February date was an initial estimate, assuming minimal hardware preparations and test durations that are no longer viewed as realistic. We've communicated our assessment to the Space Shuttle Program so it can adjust near-term plans. We will work closely with the Shuttle Program to develop details for a new launch opportunity."

Page two contains information from a Hubble program manager on the work still to do to get STS-125 ready to launch in 2009.