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Post by Bob k6tr on Aug 11, 2009 0:16:53 GMT
Hi Leif
I've been tooling around in the "Living with a Star" website and found the Solar Probe program had to undergo some major redesigns in order to satisfy a budget cutback. 1.1 Billion to 770 Million. One of the cutbacks is in the orbit. The original "Solar Probe" program was to use a combination of Jupiter and Venus assists. The revised orbit for "Solar Probe Plus" will only use Venus assists. Does this mean that NASA has given up on a Polar orbit ? Will the orbit for "Solar Probe Plus" be an inclined equatorial orbit like that used for Solar Monitor ?
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Post by Bob k6tr on Aug 10, 2009 5:14:46 GMT
I'll try. Software is recoverable. Don't worry. Rumors circulated that leadership for SDO was steamed when the satellite was bumped off it's October Ride. The reason for this is SOHO's last major task was to furnish calibration data for SDO. With out that data calibration could take substantially longer. Over the last few years most of SOHO's ground operation responsibilities have been automated and the crew has moved on to other pursuits. If this problem turns into something major I would expect Dean Pesnell to do everything in his power see that critical personal are retained to correct it even it means authorizing SDO economic resources to do so.
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Post by Bob k6tr on Aug 9, 2009 23:13:11 GMT
00:50 UT: SOHO is not in contact. Next: Canberra DSS-34 at 02:30 until 04:30 UT. There's a news story playing out here. Relax Robert About 10 years ago a bad batch of data was uploaded to SOHO. This fopar caused SOHO to lose it orientation with the sun and the error looked to be uncorrectable. NASA in press releases told the public the satellite was lost while feverishly working behind the scenes to recover it. For 6 months they tried to recover it unsuccessfully and finally caught a lucky break. The situation then was far worse than what it is right now. NASA pulled a rabbit out of its hat to save SOHO then they are capable of doing it again
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Post by Bob k6tr on Aug 9, 2009 22:42:41 GMT
And if we have lost SOHO or parts of it, how long of a gap will there be before SDO is on the job? The new does not sound encouraging at this point. I'm sure they will let us know before too long. Robert, to answer your direct question, SDO was scheduled to launch in January 2008 and had it's launch date pushed back a number of times. It's construction was completed in June 2008 and testing completed in January of 2009. It was delivered to the Astrotech Servicing Facility lin Florida last month for final prelaunch preparation. It was schedule to launch Oct 15th when it was bumped off it's ride by Intelsat IV, a communications satellite. The next Atlas V booster is to be delivered to Vandenberg AFB for use with a military payload. The next booster to be delivered to Cape Canaveral will be launched Dec 5th. That will be the ride for SDO if there are no more surprises. I gave you this lengthy explanation to show you there really is no wiggle room to get SDO up sooner.
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Post by Bob k6tr on Aug 4, 2009 3:54:07 GMT
Anything that lasts that long in space is a winner design. Design is partly responsible for the lonjevity of SOHO but its far from all of it. Actually the lion's share of SOHO's success goes to the crew that rescued it after a bad batch of data was uploaded and the satellite lost it's orientation. SOHO also lost all of it's Gyros and became the first satellite ever to operating without such stabilization. SOHO also lost the mechanism that points it's High Gain Antenna. That's is why it looses some of its functionality during Keyhole Periods. The old girl has had it ! We have a Stereo Ahead & Behind, but we don't have Magnetogram or Continuum coverage of the Poles or the Backside. A lot of the farside stuff doesn't match up to what rotates into view, and we cannot see magnetic signature at the poles due to the limb effect. Again, Scientist at NASA are confident that HMI on SDO will deliver much higher clarity and accurate Far side Images. Yes we lost Ulysees but there are some very interesting missions in the pipe line. Both Solar Probe + and Solar Orbiter are set for Cycle 25. Solar Probe will orbit the sun in an Eccentric Polar Ellyptical Orbit. Solar Orbiter will be in an Inclined Equatorial Orbit whose Inclination Angle will increase with every orbit. Yes we have lost some capability but we will gain a great deal more when SDO is launched and the future will hold more surpises.
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Post by Bob k6tr on Aug 3, 2009 5:40:13 GMT
rbateman wrote: "We will have to make do with other image sources until SOHO MDI gets back online. I'd be in favor of voting for a couple more of these MDI imagers in space. MDI Ahead, Behind, Above & Below. One of the best instruments NASA has put up there. A real Solar Hubble."You will be in awe from what comes out of SDO when it is launched in December. SDO will carry its own Magnetic Imager, HMI, that will blow the doors off MDI ! For stats and specs hmi.stanford.edu/A couple of years ago I had a very interesting conversation with Dr Chris O st Cyr of NASA at the Fall AGU Conference. He told me that NASA expects Reliable High Resolution Far-Side Images of the sun from HMI. Where as MDI Farside images where spotty and erractic. SOHO also is limited by it's Downlink Data Speed. Because of this SOHO stores it's data and compresses it before downloading. The act of compression causes some of the informational content to be lost. SDO will have a High Speed Downlink capability and will send it's data down directly without massaging it. SDO will have Helio-Magnetic and Atmospheric Imagers of it's own that will furnish photo orders of magnitude beyong anything that came out of SOHO. SDO will also have an Ultraviolet instrument far more accurate than that of SOHO. Once SDO is up and calibrated most instruments on SOHO will be powered down. The two LASCO Instruments will be left on as SDO does not have an Occulting Mechanism. But for the most part it's time to give the Old Girl a break she's been going at it for nearly 15 years. Part time duty is in order
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Post by Bob k6tr on Aug 3, 2009 4:20:07 GMT
Brokenheadphonez wrote:
"I received a reply from NASA re SOHO MDI
MDI has a technical problem with its Image Processor. Unfortunately, as we are currently in a "keyhole" (http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2004_01_04/), our DSN contacts with the spacecraft are very limited. A lot of patches, tables, etc. need to be re-loaded and due to the keyhole that is expected to take days. I hope that MDI can be returned to science mode towards the end of the week.
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Post by Bob k6tr on Aug 3, 2009 4:18:00 GMT
war > science I guess. :S More like Commerce > Science or as Dylan once said "Money doesn't talk.....it swears"
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Post by Bob k6tr on Jul 11, 2009 19:49:27 GMT
SDO bumped off it's ride.
Although not officially confirmed SDO was bumped off it's Oct 14th ride in favor of Intelsat 14, a communications satellite. SDO will pick up the next Atlas V Booster and is scheduled for a December 5th Launch.
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Post by Bob k6tr on Jul 9, 2009 1:52:33 GMT
Ageing solar probe to be taken off life support Ground controllers will pull the plug on the solar probe Ulysses ending an epic mission that has lasted more than 18 years. Ulysses launched in October 1990 and swung past Jupiter in 1992, putting it into an orbit that crosses the sun's poles – the first and only spacecraft ever to do so. In mythology, Ulysses – the Latin name for the Greek king Odysseus made famous in Homer's epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey – returned to his home in Ithaca, Greece, after a 20-year absence. www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/ulysses-20090626.htmlThe SOHO Pic of the Week Site devoted it's July 3rd edition to Ulysees sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/pickoftheweek/
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Post by Bob k6tr on Jun 26, 2009 23:24:11 GMT
The launch was scrubbed due to weather.
NASA will attempt to launch again tomorrow, Saturday June 27, but the weather again looks to be marginal.
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Post by Bob k6tr on Jun 26, 2009 15:52:39 GMT
GOES O is scheduled to launch today, Friday June 26th, at 6:14 PM EDT from Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch window extends for 1 hour but the current weather forecast of thunderstorms in the area only gives the probability of launch at 30% for today. Here is the link to the NASA webpage for GOES. This page includes a link for live coverage of the launch. Coverage begins at 4 PM EDT. www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GOES-O/main/index.html
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Post by Bob k6tr on Jun 25, 2009 1:28:55 GMT
Looks like something is afoot.
Lets hope Goddard nails the culprits quickly
STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2009-06-16 (Week 25)
ANNOUNCEMENTS -------------
* On DOY 165, at 1800Z, APL temporarily suspended its Internet connection to thwart a cyber attack. The Restricted IONet, the network that is used for real-time S/C operations, was unaffected. On DOY 166, at 1722Z, the three primary external workstations that receive DSN data and instrument remote commanding, and distribute real-time telemetry and data products were restored. This resulted in a one day delay of the processing and distribution of science data products. All SSR data was recovered. Also, real-time telemetry distribution and real-time remote instrument commanding were not available for three tracks. Each track continues to be staffed until remote monitoring services are restored.
STEREO Weekly Meeting Minutes for 2009-06-23 (Week 26)
ANNOUNCEMENTS -------------
* The STEREO Science Center website is temporarily unavailable. In the meantime, many of the data can be retrieved through the anonymous ftp server at stereoftp.nascom.nasa.gov.
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Post by Bob k6tr on Jun 24, 2009 21:00:07 GMT
STEREO Photos have been out for over a day.
When I called up the SSC Site to get status information I received a Dead-Link error message so the problem appears to be server related.
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Post by Bob k6tr on May 23, 2009 22:56:17 GMT
How long do debris from crashed satelites stay in orbit? That depends on how high up it is. Equipment in LEO (Low Earth Orbit), 100 to 200 miles above the earth's surface does last very long without being periodocally reboosted. At 100 miles it is destine for reentry within months to years. At 350 miles above earth, where the Hubble Space Telescope orbits space junk can last for 30 years or more. I assume theres lots of junk up there not being used anymore, is anyone responsible for cleaning up their space trash or do we just let it fall back to earth .. whenever..? Nope. There is a Gentleman's (Lady's) Agreement among nations that all satellites boosted in to Geosynchronus Orbit, which is 22,000 Miles up, will have a propulsion system on board that will eject the satellite out of orbit when it's life has come to an end. Countries agreed to this out of self interest. The Geosynchronus Corridor is only a mile wide at the equator. As such space is limited. Hehe.. wheres the space recyclers? Might be nice to address the issue before the space station gets beaned:) The Space Station is in a fairly low orbit, 200 miles above the surface of earth, so the odds of it getting hit by something is fairly low. Cant they come in from behind the stuff,, match speed and scoop it up? That is easier said than done. The amount of junk up there is massive and the amount of energy necessary to grab one piece is not small. The idea of shooting at it with anything is the worst thing that can be done. The idea is to slow the junk down so it's orbit decays which leads to it burning up upon reentry. If shot at successfully the junk only breaks up into more pieces complicating the problem further because it does nothing to hasten rentry. .. sorry I dont know where else to ask this stuff. no problem ask away
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