"The Side B back-up has not been fired up since Hubble went aloft 18 years ago"

Long ago I learnt the truism that a backup is only as good as your confidence it will work. Which all good SysAdmins know which is why they test their backups regularly.

Seems the scientists are of the view that because it worked 18 years ago it must work now. Which is pretty sad and probably qualifies for an epic fail.

El Reg says

"... the space shuttle Atlantis mission STS-125 - the final servicing trip to Hubble - has already been knocked back to next year."

Really? Has it?

Not according to NASA!

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/launch/index.html

Well, as mentioned it's safer to leave things powered down in space, there's less degradation for powered down components, and the advantage lies in leaving it switched off. Switching it on and off again (to put it basically) is bad for things in space.

Back on earth, the same principle can apply, but at least you can do something about it. What would switching it on as a test a year ago have gained them?

It's been sitting in a nice, shielded, cool vacuum for 18 years. Why do you think it will fail? Corrosion? There's no reason to think it will fail, other than Murphy's Law. In fact, it's more likely that it will work.

If it does fail, it's probably because it was faulty on day one.

Presumably of course, if it works, you'll be back later with a big slice of humble pie.

"Which all good SysAdmins know which is why they test their backups regularly."

Especially as it's only a 486, remember it "went aloft 18 years ago".

That would be Endeavour STS-126 you're looking at :-)

Atlantis STS-125 is "under review"

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/hst_sm4/index.html

As you can see, it's a full week procedure to switch sides, with no science. And if somebody flips a switch in the wrong order, it goes tits-up and there goes Hubble. They've already spent a week on the engineering unit, making sure they had the procedure down.

And they originally wanted an ATV, but it got canceled. This Shuttle servicing mission is putting a docking fixture on the back so it can be reboosted or pulled out of orbit as necessary by "something to be determined"

According to the BBC....

By NRT Posted Wednesday 15th October 2008 12:48 GMT

"The failed box will be replaced by astronauts" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7670412.stm

well at least in space no-one can hear u screen ! ! ! !

/ducks and runs

You know it was alien sabotage to hide their approach and lurethe astronauts out to be bodysnatched!

MUAHHAHAH!

Wynot, it's wht we'd do?

Along with the replies already posted, it is important to remember that Hubble has only a limited power supply. Running Side B when it wasn't needed would consume power they can probably ill afford to waste. While I agree that testing backups is recommended on Earth I can understand why they never powered-up Side B in space.

On another topic...

My understanding was there were going to be no more shuttle trips to Hubble as the shuttle now needs to have a visual review of the heat shield at the ISS during each mission and it can't reach Hubble and the ISS during the same mission (due to lack of fuel). NASA must have revoked this rule at some point and I didn't notice. How did they argue that the shuttle was just as safe for re-entry without the review of the heat shield?

*** Bring back the old penguin icon ***