Submitted via IRC for GhostofAristarchus
Swift Observatory in safe mode as NASA investigates issue:
NASA has temporarily paused science aboard the Swift Observatory after noticing a potential equipment failure.
An issue with NASA's Swift Observatory has forced it to suspend science operations and enter safe mode while the team investigates. The space-based telescope is not one of NASA's best-known missions, but it has played a key role in investigating an astronomical phenomenon called gamma-ray bursts.
The telescope, originally named the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer and later renamed the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, experienced a problem earlier this week suspected to be related to faulty hardware. "On the evening of Tuesday, January 18, NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory entered into safe mode, suspending pointed science observations," NASA wrote in a brief update. "The mission team is investigating a possible failure of one of the spacecraft's reaction wheels as the cause."
The reaction wheels are components that allow the spacecraft to rotate to a very precise degree, which helps to keep the telescope pointed in one direction. This is important for Swift's mission to study gamma-ray bursts as this requires a high degree of sensitivity. The bursts last a few minutes at most, and a few milliseconds at least, so Swift has to locate these events quickly before they disappear.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 24 2022, @10:25PM (7 children)
And they get paid minimum wage to do so. Many of them are Jehovah's Witnesses, who are anti-war, and have a history of sabotage.
Source: Insider.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday January 24 2022, @10:45PM (3 children)
Let me guess, you herd the flying, Mexican, Jehovah's Witnesses pigs that will be involved in the repair operation of the covert Jewish space laser.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 24 2022, @10:59PM
EF can never be a pig herd. He is only permitted to herd iguanas in his back yard.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Hartree on Monday January 24 2022, @11:01PM (1 child)
So, you're saying there's a Jewish space laser that will be barbecuing Mexican pigs in flight into Filipino pork adobo sandwiches that deliver themself to Jehovah's Witnesses? Do Amazon and GrubHub know about this?
Step 3: Profit!
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Tuesday January 25 2022, @01:01AM
those Filipino pork sandwiches are so good.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Hartree on Monday January 24 2022, @11:06PM (2 children)
The Swift mission was planned to last 2 years and it's been working for 17 years. I think we got our money's worth.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 25 2022, @02:01AM
The vacuum packing has probably leaked in 17 years. How many vacuum tubes are still working today? /sarcasm
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday January 25 2022, @06:21AM
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 24 2022, @11:14PM (2 children)
Loss of attitude control would mean a complete loss of the vehicle since it wouldn't be able to point its radio antenna at Earth anymore. The probe has redundant wheels for exactly this reason.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday January 25 2022, @06:27AM (1 child)
Depends on how much loss of attitude control and whether they can recover from it. From the article:
Sounds like this is high precision attitude control. Meaning presently that the spacecraft still can control where its communication antenna is pointing, but not well enough for the instruments on the spacecraft. If they can't figure out a fix or workaround, this might be it for the mission, but the spacecraft is still controllable. They can still, for example, move the spacecraft to a station keeping orbit where the spacecraft can be retired permanently at relatively low risk.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @04:35PM
That would be "impaired control". "Lost control" means they can't steer it anymore. In this case we can't even say that control has been impaired because NASA always shuts down instruments on any fault or failure until they finish diagnosing the problem, so that isn't any indication. We simply won't know until they issue a report.
SWIFT is in LEO, so decommissioning means deorbit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 24 2022, @11:18PM (2 children)
Sounds like my girlfriend once a month.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @10:28AM (1 child)
> a high degree of sensitivity
Sounds like my boyfriend *all the time*.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @01:21PM
"pointed in one direction"
sounds like any and all couples ever.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @07:09AM (3 children)
Who the fuck is the "GhostofAristarchus"? Search of the database turns up no such user! Is Ari dead?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @07:38AM
I hope so, but we'll still need an exorcist.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:20PM (1 child)
irc tags are chosen at connection, not SN usernames
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 25 2022, @11:38PM
You're explaining things to a troll named aristarchus, classic mistake.