Hubble Space Telescope Disabled After Gyroscope Fails Written 9 April 2018

The New York Times reports that the Hubble Space Telescope, “NASA’s jewel of the skies, is temporarily out of service.” The telescope “stood down from observing” and entered into a “safe mode” Friday after one of its gyroscopes failed. NASA has “appointed a review board to investigate the gyroscope problem.” Hubble carries six gyroscopes in total, “but only three are needed to run the telescope.” However, two have died since six new gyroscopes were installed in May 2009, “leaving a backup and three working gyroscopes, one of which expired on Friday.” When ground controllers attempted to “bring the backup gyroscope online, it behaved erratically, sending garbled messages back to the ground, said Ken Sembach, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which operates the telescope.” 
More Info (New York Times)