HUBBLE OUT OF TROUBLE

Scientists around the world breathed a sigh of relief on 15 July. After a nervous few weeks, NASA had returned the Hubble Space Telescope’s science instruments to operational status, and science data collection was able to resume for the first time since the space telescope stopped working in mid-June.

The nerves were understandable: since deployment in April 1990, Hubble has been one of the most productive scientific instruments ever built. It has made over 1.3 million observations, contributing data for more than 18,000 published scientific papers on a broad range of topics from black holes to planet formation. Astronomy textbooks include contributions from the orbiting space observatory, and Hubble’s discoveries and memorable images have ignited the public’s fascination with space over its 31 years in orbit. But is Hubble now starting to show its age? Are its components just too old? And is the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope this November coming at just