By Aazam
October 19, 2022
Then, for no apparent reason, your flight computer resets the next day as you go about your business looking for far-off planets outside of our solar system
The exoplanet-hunting TESS spacecraft of NASA reported a technical issue last week
An unexpected reset of the flight computer was identified as the cause based on an initial investigation
TESS has been exploring the cosmos since it launched into orbit in early 2018, looking for new, intriguing alien planets
TESS operates by scanning the sky for a distinctive light dip that indicates a planet is passing in front of a star.
According to NASA, science data that hasn't yet been transmitted to Earth appears to have been safely stored on board the spacecraft
The Hubble Space Telescope, for example, has weathered quite a few technical snafus over the years and has survived and thrived
The fresh James Webb Space Telescope and the old warhorse Hubble Space Telescope combined their powers to deliver an ethereal look at a pair of galaxies
1. The image of galaxy pair VV 191 shows a diffuse-looking elliptical galaxy on the left and a classic spiral galaxy on the right
The view is a melding of Webb's near-infrared vision with Hubble's observations of ultraviolet and visible light
One of Webb's talents is its ability to gaze through veils of dust in space to see underlying structures, like the "bones" of a galaxy