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Faulty Tape Recorder Hinders Retrieval of Galileo
Sponge! writes "In an article on space.com, NASA scientists struggled to get a balky tape recorder to work last Tuesday so they could retrieve some of the final data gathered by the aging Galileo spacecraft. It would be sad to see something like this prevent us from getting the data that we've waited so long for, and may have to wait even longer."
The Galileo mission design goes back a long way: The official start of the project was in October 1977, with the name being changed to Galileo in February 1978.
Fancy stuff like space-rated solid state memories didn't exist back then, and in any case the original plan was to transmit most of the science data in real-time. The recorder was really intended as a back-up to store the atmospheric probe data in case there was a problem. (good job too, since the high-gain antenna didn't open as planned)
-- We don't understand software, and sometimes we don't understand hardware, but we can *see* the blinking lights
I would also bet that given the length of time and the amount of radiation it has been hammered with, a tape recorder is probably the only storage medium that could stand up to those conditions.
E-gads indeed.
Try, mid-70s tech, retrofitted for early 80s capability. Galileo was first envisioned in the mid 70s, and original plans were to launch circa 1982 on the shuttle. Shuttle delays and redesign resulted in significant redesign of propulsion systems (I'm not sure how much of the science package was also redone) for a planned early 80s launch. Due to more shuttle delays and congressional budget snipes, the Galileo package was knocked back and forth a few times between different launch systems (a May 1985 launch scrubbed again) until finally the science and launch packages were assembled and readied for a launch on Atlantis STS-61G in May 1986.
After the Challenger explosion, STS-61G was cancelled, and I remember vividly that afternoon hearing talk radio gibbering madly about "NUCULER DIZASTER!" aka, the RTG power source that some people felt would set up us the bomb.
The probe that launched in 1989 was already old and had been sitting on the shelf for several years. Its now felt that some of the subsequent failures were due to the amount of time spent in mothballs.
I wouldn't be surprised if the design specs for the science package froze early in development, what with the rest of the probe changing to meet current availability of launchers so frequently. And mag tapes were considered very well tested, reliable storage under the conditions Galileo faced.
First, nothing begins if not opening