NASA Begins Switch to Backup Spacecraft Hardware Hubble Operations

System engineering manager Dan Smith discusses preparations for returning the Hubble Space Telescope spacecraft control to its main computer. The main computer that normally controls the spacecraft had to be turned off during a switch to backup hardware on July 15, 2021. Due to an ongoing problem with Hubble's payload computer, which monitors and instructs the instruments, the operations team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center enacted a complicated switch to backup spacecraft hardware. During the switch, the spacecraft was controlled by a special-purpose "safe mode" computer. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Rebecca Roth Today, NASA began a switch to backup spacecraft hardware on Hubble in response to an ongoing problem with its payload computer. This will be a multi-day event. If successful, the next step will be for science instruments to be brought back into operation.