LOS ANGELES (AP) - A NASA
telescope is operating normally again after a mishap nearly ended its mission
two years ago, scientists said Thursday.
The orbiting telescope
called FUSE - Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer - returned to full
strength last month after engineers fixed the problem with its onboard software
control system, said William Blair of the Johns Hopkins University, who is part
of the project.
"The old satellite still
has some spunk,'' Blair said in a statement.
Launched in 1999, FUSE
views objects by splitting light into thousands of spectra, or bands. So far,
the telescope has detected a circle of hot
gas surrounding the Milky Way, and found evidence of molecular
hydrogen in Mars' atmosphere.
In 2001, two of the
telescope's four reaction wheels, which control its direction, failed, but
resumed again two months later. But in 2004, a third reaction wheel stopped
spinning.
FUSE is
managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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