Unless mission plans for the space shuttle change in the near future it looks like the Hubble Space Telescope won’t be sending back any more of the beautiful photographs it’s become known for until 2008 after the main camera failed leaving the telescope blind.
Discovery Channel: “The Advanced Camera for Surveys produced some of the most famous and mind-bending photographs of the cosmos, including an ultra deep field survey that showed the first galaxies to emerge after the birth of the universe.
The electronics problem that blinded the camera is not affecting Hubble’s other science instruments, which will pick up extra observing time in the camera’s absence.
‘This camera was the newest, highest-tech instrument,’ said Hubble senior scientist David Leckrone, with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. ‘It was the most heavily in demand (instrument) from the astronomical community.'”
The good news is that it still has it’s other senors and that the telescope won’t be just another piece of space junk for the next year.