Hubble Space Telescope Status Report

07.29.09

 

The HST tiger team continues their investigation of a problem with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) that caused it to suspend operations on July 6.

Engineers believe the anomaly is due to a potential flight software timing error that relates to the readout of the Multi-Anode Micro-channel Plate Array (MAMA) Interface Electronics RAM memory and developed a work around. The team safely resumed MAMA detector operations on July 28.

The Servicing Mission Observation Verification, or SMOV, activities this week involve verifying the Far Ultraviolet MAMA optical path, which will allow HST scientists to check the spectral resolution of the detectors prior to commencing science observations.