PFS issue on Venus Express, PFS scanner stuck in its closed position |
PFS issue on Venus Express, PFS scanner stuck in its closed position |
Mar 21 2006, 09:03 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 370 Joined: 12-September 05 From: France Member No.: 495 |
Bad news for PFS. I hope they will be able to solve this issue.
The PFS scanner is stuck in its closed position. Several attempts to move it were made at the time, but the instrument did not respond. Experts suspected a thermal problem by which low temperatures were blocking the rotation of the mechanism. Another attempt to move the scanner was made on 16 March 2006, in warmer flight conditions. Unfortunately, the scanner remains stuck. The next opportunity to perform another test on the spacecraft will be end of April, after the Venus Orbit Insertion. From http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/in...fobjectid=38964 |
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Mar 22 2006, 03:21 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2454 Joined: 8-July 05 From: NGC 5907 Member No.: 430 |
The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory almost didn't happen due to
the satellite's high-gain antenna being stuck by a wrapped-around wire during its launch in April of 1991. Fortunately for that mission, it had been sent up by the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-37), so EVAing astronaut Jerry Ross was able to fix the problem by hand after repeated commands from the ground and even using the robot arm failed to do the trick. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-37 -------------------- "After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance. I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard, and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft." - Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853 |
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Mar 22 2006, 05:27 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 624 Joined: 10-August 05 Member No.: 460 |
QUOTE It IS inappropriate to bring Iraq into it, to use a rather crude phrasology when refering to the Italians and to have a post that saying nothing but "Grrrrrrrrr" As long as we all agree it is very frustrating to have yet another space mission placed in jeopardy because the spring in the Jack-in-the-box does not work. The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory almost didn't happen due to the satellite's high-gain antenna being stuck by a wrapped-around wire during its launch in April of 1991. Fortunately for that mission, it had been sent up by the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-37), so EVAing astronaut Jerry Ross was able to fix the problem by hand after repeated commands from the ground and even using the robot arm failed to do the trick. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-37 In my next IR&D funding request, I am going to propose building a satellobit - a little dude with strong clasps and a good lever arm, who could wrestle with stubborn booms, valves, shields, clasps, whatever. Include one in every mission - even a robotic eye camera that could aid in the diagnose root causes would be helpful. We have got to pay more attention, money and weight allowances to system health assessment and managagement. |
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Mar 22 2006, 06:52 PM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2488 Joined: 17-April 05 From: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Member No.: 239 |
As long as we all agree it is very frustrating to have yet another space mission placed in jeopardy because the spring in the Jack-in-the-box does not work. In my next IR&D funding request, I am going to propose building a satellobit - a little dude with strong clasps and a good lever arm, who could wrestle with stubborn booms, valves, shields, clasps, whatever. Include one in every mission - even a robotic eye camera that could aid in the diagnose root causes would be helpful. We have got to pay more attention, money and weight allowances to system health assessment and managagement. I tend to agree - and in particular for the incredibly precise optical origami experiment known as the James Webb Space Telescope! Hubble didn't *really* need human attention (it's pretty obvious that it really needed a series of improved siblings, not a series of expensive upgrades) but JWST is s-o-o-o complicated in terms of the darn thing deploying that it really does need a hammer-wielding 'something' to be available, just in case. An astrobot would be fine, but a human would possibly be even better - and as a dry-run for some serious deep space Buck Rogers, what could be better than a mission to observe JWST deployment from a nice, safe distance, with the option of a repair / redeploy if required? If NASA doesn't want the job, put it out to competitive tender, and offer to fly some of the engineers who built the darn thing as Mission Specialists aboard a Dragon (or whatever). OK, it's not the cheapest way to run things, sending men out there - but the high price of a manned insurance mission is still pennies compared to the cost of JWST going down the sluice. If that happens, say cheerio to all those other fun big science missions... Bob Shaw -------------------- Remember: Time Flies like the wind - but Fruit Flies like bananas!
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