Herschel has lost HIFI (temporarily)

[sheeny (Al)]

The power supply to the HIFI instrument on Herschel space telescope has been damaged. It is currently shutdown till the cause has been identified. There is a backup power supply, however, so HIFI should be back when they sort out the cause. More from Nature:

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/0909....2009.911.html

Al.

[astroron (Ron)]

Fingers crossed for a full recovery

[renormalised (Carl)]

Let's hope they can fix it.

[stephenb (Stephen)]

That is a blow to the mission, sure hope they can nut it out.