The Hubble Space Telescope is amazing. I don't throw out compliments like that freely. I'm not a NASA fanboy. Hubble has changed astronomy and unlocked secrets we could have never imagined. If that was the whole story Hubble would be impressive. Yet Hubble's real strength is its designed-in ability to be serviced, fixed and have its capabilities expanded.

Enough of the good stuff. Hubble is very sick. It's tough to quantify at the moment, but we know Hubble's Control Unit/Science Data Formatter isn't working!

"Shortly after 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27, the telescope's spacecraft computer issued commands to safe the payload computer and science instruments when errors were detected within the Science Data Formatter. An attempt to reset the formatter and obtain a dump of the payload computer's memory was unsuccessful.

Additional testing demonstrates Side A no longer supports the transfer of science data to the ground. A transition to the redundant Side B should restore full functionality to the science instruments and operations."

Problem is Side B of Hubble's Control Unit/Science Data Formatter hasn't been tested since the space telescope was launched. No one really knows if its in any better shape than Side A. On top of that, the procedure for switching is complex requiring five other systems to go to their Side B--again, untested in space. There's a significant chance this problem can't be fixed from the ground.

NASA will attempt the switchover in a few days, but just-in-case there's a "Plan B"... OK, a "Plan C." An upcoming Hubble service mission has now been postponed with the thought of expanding its tasks.

"Under consideration is the possibility of flying a back-up replacement system as part of the payload, which could be installed during the servicing mission. The back-up unit will need to be checked out and tested at Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and as a result, won't be ready to be delivered to Kennedy Space Center in Florida until the first week in January."

Seriously--I can't even get a projection TV fixed and they're flying to Hubble with parts! The mission which previously included five spacewalks to install new instruments, batteries, and gyroscopes and the "if time remains" possibility of new thermal blankets will now bring a very complex module--possibly the difference between Hubble's life and death. This is not the first time Hubble's continued existence has been on the line. It's been fixed before, but NASA claims this is it--the last service mission. They can't take it back to the shop