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Nasa: Hubble Space Telescope fixed after being offline for a month
Image source, NASA
Nasa's Hubble Telescope is working again, after a glitch caused it to drop offline.
The Hubble telescope is one of Nasa's most famous and important telescopes.
It was launched in 1990, and since then, has gathered more than 1.5 million observations, which have helped change the way we think about about the Universe.
Image source, EPA/NASA
On 13 June Hubble's payload computer, which controls and co-ordinates the telescope's science instruments, suddenly stopped working.
The telescope was placed into safe mode - meaning it would not work on any science missions - whilst scientists on Earth tried to figure out what was wrong with it.
Image source, NASA GSFC/Rebecca Roth
The Hubble engineers spent almost a month trying to figure out what was wrong with the telescope, before finally pin-pointing the problem - the telescope's Power Control Unit.
On 15 July, the team switched over to the telescope's backup hardware, which brought the science instruments back online again two days later.
"I'm thrilled to see that Hubble has its eye back on the universe, once again capturing the kind of images that have intrigued and inspired us for decades," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
Image source, NASA
"This is a moment to celebrate the success of a team truly dedicated to the mission. Through their efforts, Hubble will continue its 32nd year of discovery, and we will continue to learn from the observatory's transformational vision."
Hubble will be joined by the new James Webb Space Telescope later this year, and many astronomers hope that the two will be able to work alongside each other.