The Chandra Space Telescope, which observes X-rays, cannot continue its scientific activities. It has been down since February 9, 2022. NASA is trying to solve the problem.
The scientific activities of Chandra, the space observatory of X-rays, are interrupted. NASA announced on February 14, 2022 that its telescope had been down for a few days. ” On Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, routine monitoring data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory indicated a power supply issue in the craft’s high-resolution camera. “, says the space agency.
It was therefore decided to suspend Chandra’s scientific operations. The four scientific instruments were switched to safe mode, to give the teams time to analyze the situation and see what would be the best solution.
The situation can recall the breakdowns encountered by Hubble during the year 2021. After a problem concerning the on-board computer, it was a problem in the internal communications of the telescope which had been noted. Each time, the instruments remained in good condition, which was encouraging but frustrating news, as Hubble was unusable for scientific purposes anyway. Fortunately, everything ended well for Hubble each time.
Similarly, NASA mentions here that Chandra itself is functioning properly. The stated goal is to resume scientific activities “ at the beginning of next week (i.e. the week of February 21), with another instrument than the one that encountered a problem: the ACIS imaging spectrometer (“Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer”), which is used in particular to study the temperature of the sources targeted.
What is the Chandra Observatory for?
Perhaps less known to the general public than Hubble or James Webb, Chandra is nevertheless an important space telescope. Launched into space on July 23, 1999, it is part of NASA’s Major Observatories program (along with Hubble, which is still operational, as well as Spitzer and Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, which are now retired). Chandra is specially designed to study X-ray emissions from very hot regions of the Universe. The telescope thus observes stars having exploded, clusters of galaxies or matter swirling around black holes.
To see these X-rays, it was essential that Chandra be a space telescope, because these rays are absorbed by the atmosphere of our planet. The telescope therefore orbits around the Earth, up to an altitude of 139,000 kilometers. Chandra celebrated 20 years in space in 2019.