Created Mon 13th Oct 11:33pm PDT by 
orlin
All questions » Science » Space » orlin 
Will Hubble troubleshooting be successful?
Voided
This question was badly framed and neither the relevant time period nor an adequate definition of what 'successful' entailed were established, making it difficult to determine the correct settlement of the question.
Background:
Significant Hubble Space Telescope malfunction occurred affecting the storage and transmittal of science data to Earth. The malfunctioning system is Hubble's Control Unit/Science Data Formatter - Side A. Shortly after 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27, the telescope's spacecraft computer issued commands to safe the payload computer and science instruments when errors were detected within the Science Data Formatter. An attempt to reset the formatter and obtain a dump of the payload computer’s memory was unsuccessful.
Additional testing demonstrates Side A no longer supports the transfer of science data to the ground. A transition to the redundant Side B should restore full functionality to the science instruments and operations.
The transition to Side B operations is complex. It requires that five other modules used in managing data also be switched to their B-side systems. The B-sides of these modules last were activated during ground tests in the late 1980’s and/or early 1990, prior to launch.
The Hubble operations team has begun work on the Side B transition and believes it will be ready to reconfigure Hubble later this week. The transition will happen after the team completes a readiness review.
Hubble could return to science operations in the immediate future if the reconfiguration is successful.
Additional testing demonstrates Side A no longer supports the transfer of science data to the ground. A transition to the redundant Side B should restore full functionality to the science instruments and operations.
The transition to Side B operations is complex. It requires that five other modules used in managing data also be switched to their B-side systems. The B-sides of these modules last were activated during ground tests in the late 1980’s and/or early 1990, prior to launch.
The Hubble operations team has begun work on the Side B transition and believes it will be ready to reconfigure Hubble later this week. The transition will happen after the team completes a readiness review.
Hubble could return to science operations in the immediate future if the reconfiguration is successful.
Settlement details:
As reported by a major mainstream news source.
Suspend date: Thu 23rd Oct 12:59am PDT
Initial likelihoods: Yes: 50%
Action history:
Created Mon 13th Oct 11:33pm PDT by orlin
orlin
Settlement requested Thu 16th Oct 9:26pm PDT by orlin: Yes
http://uk.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUKTRE49D7PW20081016
orlin: Yes
http://uk.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUKTRE49D7PW20081016
Suspended Fri 17th Oct 12:50am PDT by 
tisha![[Admin]](http://www.hubdub.com/images/icon_admin.gif "This user is an admin")
: checking settlement sources
tisha: checking settlement sources
Settlement requested Fri 17th Oct 6:31am PDT by s99nj: All fixed up.
http://in.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idINTRE49D7PW20081016
s99nj: All fixed up.
http://in.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idINTRE49D7PW20081016
Settled as 'No' Fri 17th Oct 3:10pm PDT by tisha: Although initial reports were that the Hubble were successfully transmitting data to Earth, on October 16, system monitors indicated that a power supply to the Solar Blind Camera failed to reach the correct level, and another, yet-unidentified problem may have occurred, causing sensors to send Hubble into “safe mode.”
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/37789/title/More_problems_with_Hubble
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h7Mv47q1iDJKu746rKUjou9RjmnQD93SGFRG0
tisha: Although initial reports were that the Hubble were successfully transmitting data to Earth, on October 16, system monitors indicated that a power supply to the Solar Blind Camera failed to reach the correct level, and another, yet-unidentified problem may have occurred, causing sensors to send Hubble into “safe mode.”
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/37789/title/More_problems_with_Hubble
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h7Mv47q1iDJKu746rKUjou9RjmnQD93SGFRG0
Previous action withdrawn Sat 18th Oct 6:25am PDT by tisha: This question was badly framed and neither the relevant time period nor an adequate definition of what 'successful' entailed were established, making it difficult to determine the correct settlement of the question.
tisha: This question was badly framed and neither the relevant time period nor an adequate definition of what 'successful' entailed were established, making it difficult to determine the correct settlement of the question.
Voided Sat 18th Oct 6:26am PDT by tisha: This question was badly framed and neither the relevant time period nor an adequate definition of what 'successful' entailed were established, making it difficult to determine the correct settlement of the question.
tisha: This question was badly framed and neither the relevant time period nor an adequate definition of what 'successful' entailed were established, making it difficult to determine the correct settlement of the question.
Suspend date: Thu 23rd Oct 12:59am PDT
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Get widget!Predictions (31)
31 predictions
chull
puntdotcom
sdchargers![[Power User]](http://www.hubdub.com/images/icon_superuser.gif "This user is a super user"){kind=icon}
predicted No (H$100 at 30%)
oppugner
mikeo7b3
coolkraft
youbetComments (3)
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This news is selected automatically based on the question, its background, options and tags
score: 10
The Register 6 weeks ago
Successful boot after 18-year slumber NASA is cautiously optimistic that Hubble will soon be back in action following a boot-up of the space telescope's venerable 486 back-up system. Hubble was last month blinded by the failure of the Control
score: 10
Computerworld 6 weeks ago
strategy. October 15, 2008 (Computerworld) A team of NASA engineers and scientists from a failed computer in the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to an onboard backup system today. In a normal enterprise, it's tough enough to power down a system, switch over
score: 10
ITWire 6 weeks ago
Hubble Space Telescope scientists will be doing an earth-to-telescope repair procedure this week, hoping to flip from a dead primary data formatter to a working-but-never used backup one. It looks that
score: 10
EDN.com 6 weeks ago
as fast as originally promised (see here and here), NASA plans to uplink the commands to tell the Hubble Space Telescope to switch from Side A to Side B on the SIC&DH (Science Instrument Command and Data Handling) system on Wednesday. This news comes
score: 10
EDN.com 8 weeks ago
Just two weeks before the next schedule repair mission, the Hubble space telescope has failed. It stopped phoning home. Although the instrument packages still work, the Side A Scientific Instrument and Data Handling Unit (SI DHU) has failed.
In my view, as I read the official reports, troubleshooting of the initial issues is successful. B-side is activated and work. What occured are new issues, which are not covered by the question and concern only one instrument (system) and not the whole HST. Besides, the new problem: a/ is in proces of removal, and b/ does not affect the other working systems of Hubble.
To settle as 'no', Hubble may not work at all, as it was when the problems from the end of September occured, which is not the case as of now.
Therefore, the right annswer is 'yes', because the switching to the Side-B was successful, most systems works and new issues may be subject of a potential new question but are not under the common sense of understanding of this one.
Finally, as a reserve variant, question should wait until the new issues are resolved or it would become clear that they are irreparable and how they affect the overall work of the space telescope.
I dont understand how this "yet-unidentified problem may have occurred" would be un additional reason for settlement.
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