The failure of a data handling unit aboard the Hubble Space Telescope shut down science observations this weekend and could force NASA to push back the planned Oct. 14 launch of a fifth and final Hubble servicing mission.
NASA managers are in meetings this morning to determine the impact of the failure of the telescope's prime science command data handling unit, which the observatory has used for the past 18 years to format science data and downlink it to Earth.
The telescope is equipped with a back-up unit, but it has never been used. Flight controllers consequently want to make sure they can turn it on successfully and then check it out -- a series of events that could take a few days.
NASA is aiming to launch seven astronauts on a mission to outfit Hubble with two new science instruments. The astronauts plan to resuscitate two others and equip the obseravtory with new batteries and gyroscopes -- gear that will enable it to operate through 2013.
A news media telecon is tentatively scheduled for 6 p.m. today. Program managers will outline the problem and gauge its potential impact during that event.
Space news and analysis from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral 
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