SOHO Is Back

c4tp's friend writes "Space.com reports that SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) is back and almost fully operational. The satellite should be able to transmit 98% of the data it was able to transport before an electric motor stuck disabling its high gain attenae in June (covered by Slashdot). The fix includes a 180 degree rotation of SOHO and use of another satellite dish transmitting the information via the Deep Space Network. SOHO will be out of order for about nine to sixteen days every three months."

Comments

Re:Great!

[ChuckDivine]

moehoward writes:

I love a happy ending. But the story could have used a bit more drama. And maybe even its own Aerosmith song.

I love a happy ending, too. And drama is terrific, too. But you don't want drama everywhere. SOHO is an observatory that performs a quite useful function for the human race. It's better for it to perform that function as well as it can. That probably means with as little drama as possible.

Engineering and science can be part of something quite dramatic. Check out a mid 50s British film "The Dam Busters" for an illuminating look at real engineers involved in real drama. Or the Ron Howard film "Apollo 13" for a more modern look at engineers involved in high drama.

But everyday engineering and science should avoid drama. Drama comes from unexpected events (e.g., Apollo 13's failures, natural catastrophe) and conflict (war, political campaigns, etc.). Society (as well as scientists and engineers) want technology to work, not provide drama -- unless that is a deliberate goal. Routine technology should not be dramatic. Dramatic events should not be routine.

And hearty congratulations are in order for the people who got SOHO working again.

NASA Amazes Me

[Ignorant Aardvark]

I never cease to be amazed by all that NASA is capable. Time and time again they have had (understandable) glitches occur, because space is the most hostile environment. And time and time again they manage to come up with innovative solutions they can use to fix problems when the equipment is millions (or even billions) of miles away and cannot be touched. Voyager II was still transmitting data recently, and it's out of the solar system! How many other systems built three decades ago are still functioning? And do they have to contend with the harshest environment known to man?

I commend NASA on their ingenuity and problem-solving skills. Microsoft, for instance, has so many bugs often times they'll just give up on problems where they even have physical access to the device and just tell you to "reinstall the OS"! NASA works under many more constraints and yet consistently manage to get the job done right. There's no other organization (governmental or otherwise) that I place as much trust in as NASA. They're working for all humankind and won't let anything get in their way.

If SOHO data is so critical...

[Anonymous Coward]

... why are space weather forecasters, satellite operators, and power companies relying on a satellite which is already two years past its most optimistic scheduled lifespan?

I was really bugged by this quote:

Space weather forecasters who rely on the data said it would gut their forecasts, which in turn are used by satellite operators and power companies to minimize risk of failure during strong solar storms. Even commercial television broadcasts and pager services would have been at greater risk for downtime if storms struck without warning.

Kudos to NASA and ESA for keeping SOHO flying, and I hope they continue to do so. But if the private sector depends critically on SOHO output, perhaps they should have their own bird flying by now, rather than waiting for the next solar observer scheduled to fly by 2008. If this is considered a mission vital to the overall public good (like, for example, NOAA's GOES satellites), why are we hearing about this now rather than in 2001 when SOHO was scheduled to expire?

If SOHO goes quiet and your business is affected, don't complain that NASA et al are falling down on the job -- launch your own satellite!

Re:If SOHO data is so critical...

[robsimmon]

... why are space weather forecasters, satellite operators, and power companies relying on a satellite which is already two years past its most optimistic scheduled lifespan?

because Congress (and various European governments) doesn't want to pay for a new one.

Inventiveness

[phliar]

Sure, there's a lot of complaining about all the stupid things they do, with their quaint imperial vs. metric problems, astigmatism, etc. etc. But there's also creative and cool things they do with malfunctioning remote probes. Fault tolerance on the other side of millions-of-miles distances working with milliwatts of energy and absurdly low bandwidths, that's what I call cool. More tinkerers and less bureaucrats (and less obsession with a manned Shuttle program) is what NASA needs.