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NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory Enters Safe Mode; Investigation Underway:
At approximately 9:55 a.m. EDT on Oct. 10, 2018, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory entered safe mode, in which the observatory is put into a safe configuration, critical hardware is swapped to back-up units, the spacecraft points so that the solar panels get maximum sunlight, and the mirrors point away from the Sun. Analysis of available data indicates the transition to safe mode was normal behavior for such an event. All systems functioned as expected and the scientific instruments are safe. The cause of the safe mode transition (possibly involving a gyroscope) is under investigation, and we will post more information when it becomes available.
Chandra is 19 years old, which is well beyond the original design lifetime of 5 years. In 2001, NASA extended its lifetime to 10 years. It is now well into its extended mission and is expected to continue carrying out forefront science for many years to come.
Has anyone heard from Opportunity lately?
But seriously, it's amazing how many probes keep running so far beyond their designed life span. Take a look, for instance, at the Mars Rovers. And then consider the two Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977 which are still in operation!
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Saturday October 13 2018, @06:43PM (2 children)
Mars Opportunity rover news: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/martian-skies-clearing-over-opportunity-rover [nasa.gov]
Bottom line: engineers still have heard nothing from Opportunity. They're trying combinations of different commands, frequencies, etc. There's some hope that Opportunity is okay but has too much dust on solar panels, that some wind will clean them allowing enough sunlight, and Opportunity will awaken.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday October 13 2018, @07:10PM (1 child)
Can Opportunity tell us much more? There's InSight [wikipedia.org] en route. Mars 2020 and ExoMars are launching in July 2020. There's no mission planned that would be tasked with drilling into the possible subsurface lake [nasa.gov].
There needs to be more effort put into definitively answering the question, "Is (or was) there life on Mars?" before humans arrive to trash the place.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday October 14 2018, @12:32AM
You make a good point. I guess we won't know what Opportunity might find and tell unless it recovers and continues.
I remembered (and looked up) the Viking 1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_1 [wikipedia.org] mission that had some kind of biology / life-seeking experiments. Of course none was found, but maybe somewhere else on Mars would be a better place to look.