Article of the week

Do you know about NASA - CHIPS Mission. I bet you dont...

CHIPS (Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer) is an American (NASA) astrophysics spacecraft that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB at 00:45 UT on 13 January 2003. The 60 kg, triaxially-stabilized spacecraft has a spectrograph covering the 9-26 nm wavelength band at a resolution of 0.1 nm, scanning the entire sky in chunks of 5 degree x 27 degree segments during each orbit. The targets are the hot and diffuse nebulae at about a million degrees temperature. The band covers several strong emission lines. Launch Date:   2003-01 13     Launch Vehicle:  Delta II Launch Site:   Vandenberg AFB, United States Mass:   60 kg  CHIPS carried out an all-sky survey of the diffuse background at wavelengths from  90  to 260 Å at a spectral resolution between about λ / 150 and λ / 40, and a spatial resolution of 5 to 15 degrees. CHIPS detected diffuse emission near 170 Å, but this turned out to be a...
0

NASA updates Cause of ChandraX-Ray safe Mode - - Operations Resume

It's been terrifying for many Space Enthusiast ever since NASA announced Kepler entering into safe Mode and then same for ChandraX-Ray observatory. However the pain has relieved to some extent after NASA released the latest update.

Oct. 15 Update:  The cause of Chandra's safe mode on October 10 has now been understood and the Operations team has successfully returned the spacecraft to its normal pointing mode. The safe mode was caused by a glitch in one of Chandra's gyroscopes resulting in a 3-second period of bad data that in turn led the on-board computer to calculate an incorrect value for the spacecraft momentum. The erroneous momentum indication then triggered the safe mode.

The team has completed plans to switch gyroscopes and place the gyroscope that experienced the glitch in reserve. Once configured with a series of pre-tested flight software patches, the team will return Chandra to science operations which are expected to commence by the end of this week.

Illustration of the Chandra X-ray Observatory in Earth orbit.

Credits: NASA

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.

Artist's concept of Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Credits: NASA/CXC/SAO

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.


This article was originally published by NASA

Last Updated: Oct. 15, 2018 by NASA @nasa.gov

Comments

Post a Comment