Experts say Hubble is 'beyond repair' despite NASA insisting there are 'multiple options' for a fix

The Hubble telescope may be'beyond repair' and this'could be the end of its story', experts have said, although NASA insists it still has multiple options to try and fix it almost three weeks after it went offline. The US space agency has dismissed fears the ageing observatory will never work again after a computer glitch caused it to shut down on June 13. Hubble, a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), has been observing the Universe for more than 30 years. Engineers have tried a range of measures to get it up and running again, including switching to a backup memory module, restarting the machine and turning on a backup version of the payload computer - but none of them solved the issue. They found that the fault was in the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling (SI C&DH) unit, where the payload computer sits, and so are designing a way to safely switch to a backup unit, which is a'very risky process,' said NASA. The ongoing issues have caused experts to speculate about the telescope's future, with former NASA space shuttle pilot Clayton C Anderson saying he believes Hubble is'beyond repair'. FermiLab director and leading physicist Don Lincoln also said this'could be the end of Hubble's story', but told CNN he couldn't discount the ingenuity of NASA engineers.