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SOHO's Antenna Jammed

Posted by michael on from the really-long-stick-needed dept.

zapp writes "Space.com has a story reporting that the communications antenna on SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) has been acting up for two weeks, and as of 3PM ET Thursday was not functioning properly. The problem appears to be with motor to position the antenna. If full use of SOHO cannot be regained, it will set space weather forcasting back 20 years."

2 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. call the Navy by BigBir3d · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They could just call those cadets to find out how to make a reliable antenna.

  2. Obvious question by crotherm · · Score: 4, Interesting
    So if the ability to detect magnetic storms is so important, why in the world is there a single point of failure? I am a little disappointed that the article did not mention about who built it, and what it would take to replace it. The article makes it seem like once SOHO is gone, we are SOL.

    After a little digging I found that SOHO was built in Europe. From the web site...

    The SOHO satellite was built in Europ by an industrial consortium lead by Matra, while the scientific instruments were provided by European and American scientists and funded by their national institutions.

    --
    "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable" - JFK