SoylentNews

upstart writes:

A communications delay timed out the instrument's flight software, and some planned observations will have to be rescheduled:

NASA says the Webb Space Telescope's Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph is currently unavailable for science operations following a software glitch earlier this month.

In a release published yesterday, the agency stated that the issue started on January 15, when a communications delay within the instrument caused its flight software to time out. Flight software is a crucial aspect of any instrument operating in space, as it manages a whole suite of operations on a given spacecraft, including its orientation, communications, data collection, and thermal control.

[...] There have also been some software hiccups. In August, the telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (or MIRI) had a software glitch that paused its operations through November. And in December, there was an issue with the telescope's attitude control, which manages where the telescope is pointing. The glitch put the telescope into safe mode multiple times last month.

[...] Webb has done some tremendous work so far and will continue to illuminate the most ancient and murky regions of the cosmos. You can check out some of what's on the docket, along with other astronomy plans for the year, here.

Original Submission