USA — NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has gone into safe mode after two of its four functioning gyroscopes stopped working.<br /><br />The Hubble had been operating with four of its six gyroscopes when two of them failed, according to reports from NASA.<br /><br />At any given time, the Hubble needs at least three of its gyroscopes to work for optimal efficiency.<br /><br />After one of the gyroscopes failed, controllers tried to switch to another newer gyroscope, however, that one failed as well, leaving the Hubble with only two fully functioning gyroscopes.<br /><br />Gyroscopes are mainly used to make steer the Hubble and makes sure the telescope is steady in space.<br /><br />The failure was "not unexpected" as two other gyros of the same model had already experienced problems, according to a NASA statement.<br /><br />NASA also tweeted it was conducting tests on the newer gyroscope to determine the problems.<br /><br />The operators will now try to revive the newer gyroscope and bring it online. <br /><br />If it is not successful, the Hubble will operate in a "reduced-gyro" mode, using only one gyro in order to let the telescope operate for a longer time.<br /><br />However, this would affect the Hubble's ability to track fast moving objects as well as reduce the amount of sky it can view in any given moment, according to NASA.
