Some rather worrying news from low Earth orbit this month.

On Sunday 13 June 2021 the iconic Hubble Space Telescope automatically placed itself into a protective safe mode following a sudden halt in its payload computer, which controls the science instruments.

While the telescope itself remains in good health, engineers are meticulously trying to figure out which component in the 1980s-era command and data handling system has failed.

Thankfully, Hubble was designed with a huge amount of redundancy, and there is a fully capable backup computer system on board. NASA is taking their time to diagnose the fault carefully, but it is a sobering reminder that our most beloved space observatory is certainly showing its age.

Cover Credit: NASA/Smithsonian Institution/Lockheed Corporation