Hubble and Spitzer status reports

The HST team continues to investigate an anomaly with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph that caused it to suspend operations on July 6. An attempt to fully recover the instrument on July 10 was not successful.

The team is collecting diagnostic information and will meet again on July 13 to review STIS status and determine the next course of action.

The Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard Hubble, which suspended operations on June 24, was successfully recovered July 6 and is now progressing through the Servicing Mission Observatory Verification, or SMOV program, along with the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph.

Spitzer

Testing and characterization activities continue for the Spitzer Space Telescope warm mission, a process that began after the observatory's cryogen ran out on May 15.

After a series of tests, scientists and engineers determined the optimal combinations of voltage and temperature for the arrays in the infrared array camera -- the instrument that still functions during Spitzer's warm mission. The combinations minimize artifacts in the images, while achieving the best performance in terms of stability and sensitivity.

All systems on the spacecraft are healthy and functioning normally, and the observatory continues to warm towards its equilibrium temperature.

Source: NASA
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