By Ron Cowen
The world’s most prominent stargazer is back in business.
Two months after a fourth gyroscope failure robbed the Hubble Space Telescope of its cosmic view (SN: 11/27/99, p. 341), the $1.5 billion observatory has resumed operations, NASA announced last week.
During a 9-day repair mission late in December, shuttle astronauts replaced the telescope’s six gyroscopes and installed a 486-microprocessor computer—primitive by earthly standards but of proven reliability in the harsh environment of space. They also added new battery components and a solid-state tape recorder and upgraded the telescope’s guidance system.