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!
Related Stories
After briefly going offline, NASA's Chandra X-ray space telescope is back in action
After briefly going into safe mode last week, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory — which observes galaxies and nebulas from Earth's orbit — should be getting back to normal operations soon. The cause of the disruption was a small glitch in one of the spacecraft's instruments used for steering and pointing. But the space agency has since fixed the problem, and the telescope will be back to observing the Universe by the end of the week.
[...] The glitch resulted in the gyro measuring three seconds of "bad data," which led Chandra's onboard computer to come up with the wrong value for the vehicle's momentum, according to NASA. This apparently prompted the safe mode. Now, NASA has decided to use one of Chandra's other gyros in its place and put the glitchy one on reserve.
Also at Space.com.
Previously: NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory Enters Safe Mode; Investigation Underway
Related: Puzzling X-Ray Emissions From Pluto
A New Stellar X-Ray 'Reality' Show Debuts
Galaxy Collision Creates Ring of Black Holes and Neutron Stars
(Score: 2) by Arik on Saturday October 13 2018, @03:31PM (3 children)
In 1977 the throw-away economy was already a thing, don't get me wrong, but it hadn't really soaked in so thoroughly yet. NASA engineers were still probably above it. Don't believe me? Go find a car that was made in 1977, and examine it thoroughly, please.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 13 2018, @03:52PM (1 child)
Not sure, exactly, of your point about cars. There have been cheaper, "throwaway" cars for a lot longer than 1977. Volkswagen might be the best example. The VW was never an "investment", a "luxury", or a "status symbol" - it was a less expensive, utilitarian thing. A lot of them survived for amazingly long times, but that wasn't their purpose - they were engineered to be cheap and affordable. TBH, that was also the mission of Ford, early on - to provide people with a cheap affordable vehicle. Only later did they start changing their mission to provide status symbols and/or high quality vehicles.
So - how about my 1976 Chevy Nova? Six cylinder, three speed, no frame under the car - it was the most fuel efficient vehicle I had ever owned, up to that point in time. It came from the factory getting 16.5 to 17 mpg. After some tinkering, and adding some bits and pieces from Clifford Research and other sources, I was getting 20 mpg with it. It lasted me 280,000 miles, at which point I handed it down to a youngster who needed a vehicle. Dumbass tore it up in no time at all, but that's a different story.
It was a "throwaway", in that it was pretty inexpensive. But, it was also an inexpensive car to maintain and repair. There have been a fair number of other vehicles since that are far more "throwaway", but there have also been a number of them that were not.
Speaking of stupid status symbols - my Trailblazer is just another car to me. Technically, it's an SUV, but to me, it's just a covered pickup truck. But, *some* people at work have congratulated me on the damned thing. "Oh, that's a really nice car!" Dumb - it's just another set of wheels - a little more utilitarian than some of the vehicles I've driven. Burns a little more gas than some others. But, every vehicle is a tradeoff. I sure as hell didn't buy it as a status symbol - the price was right, and it fit my needs. People are dumb!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 13 2018, @07:20PM
And this is why while the world runs on Linux and Windows, Apple gets all the attention.
Because Jobs kept hammering the idea of Apple products being status symbols, and priced them accordingly.
And this is why in turn the "creative" people latched onto them, as most of them are in it for the status rather than the art.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Saturday October 13 2018, @07:19PM
Voyager 2's expenses were deliberately understated, to keep it safer from budget cutting in Congress. The plan they gave the bureaucrats called for only a look at Jupiter and Saturn, so that they would not have to include another 8 years of expenses that the journey to Uranus and Neptune would take. Of course they privately planned for a look at all 4 from the beginning, for one thing because the alignment of the planets for such a "Grand Tour" occurs only once every 175 years, and the late 1970s was the time. Another thing they were doing was hedging against failure and disappointment, didn't want to claim that the spacecraft would function long enough to finish the tour, in case it didn't.
NASA does that for most missions. When a mission continues onward, and is poised for yet more great discoveries, it's a lot harder for the bureaucrats and Congress to say no at that point. They'd be roasted for blowing a big opportunity, grilled over a slow fire for such waste and idiocy, and they know it. The bureaucrats themselves feel easier about the spending, because they can be pretty sure they will have all kinds of photos and other data they can show off to justify the spending to those among the public who wanted the money spent elsewhere. Getting a look at 4 giant planets with one spacecraft is one heck of a bargain, but bureaucrats tend to lack proper appreciation of such facts.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Saturday October 13 2018, @04:11PM
ESA's XMM-Newton [wikipedia.org] is still operating. ESA will launch the Advanced Telescope for High Energy Astrophysics [wikipedia.org] (ATHENA) in 2028.
NASA also has NuSTAR [wikipedia.org].
JAXA's Hitomi [wikipedia.org] failed and broke up in orbit. The replacement is the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission [wikipedia.org] (XRISM), with a launch scheduled in March 2021.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday October 13 2018, @04:15PM (1 child)
The lunar module came with duct tape. One of the missions used it to repair a torn fender on a lunar rover
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday October 13 2018, @04:16PM
Maybe that's Buddhas way of suggesting I meditate
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 13 2018, @04:24PM
With or without networking?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 13 2018, @05:02PM
First the Hubble; now this. Clearly it's an alien raiding party taking out our long range sensors so we don't detect the invasion force until it's too late.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 13 2018, @06:28PM
Grand Solar minimum incoming. Get ready for 50 years of decreasing northern hemisphere temperatures.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunder_Minimum [wikipedia.org]
(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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 13 2018, @07:16PM
There are no devops fanatics out to overthrow a known working platform.