|
| Diagram showing the location of the new exeternal power supply |
The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) was installed on Hubble during Servicing Mission 3B in 2002, replacing the Faint Object Camera (FOC). The 3rd generation imager included three channels: the Wide Field Channel (WFC), the High Resolution Channel (HRC), and the Solar Blind Channel (SBC). In July 2006, an electronics failure in its Low Voltage Power Supply (LVPS) effectively placed the WFC and HRC offline.
The Fix
The attempted repair of ACS during this mission will restore the WFC by replacing four boards within the existing electronics bay by a single new power supply attached to the outside of instrument. The new supply will effectively bypass the broken circuit elements. Power to the HRC will be restored by powering the existing electronics through the new power supply unit.
Future ScienceOne of the highest priorities of Servicing Mission 4 is the installation of a powerful new instrument, the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), a camera covering wavelengths from the near-ultraviolet to the near-infrared. WFC3 has enormous scientific potential, providing high sensitivity over a wide field of view and with a wide range of wavelength coverage. The capabilities of ACS and WFC3 overlap in some areas; however, each offers some key abilities not provided by the other, and together are wonderfully complementary.
ACS has several unique capabilities that are unmatched by WFC3. This includes full-field slitless spectroscopy using a very sensitive red grism, and a coronagraph in the high-resolution channel of the ACS. The latter of these is critical for studying planet formation and evolution around nearby stars.
Links
Fact Sheet (PDF) | 
