Mirror Jams on Venus Express Spacecraft

tsarina writes "The European Space Agency is trying to fix a stuck instrument on its Venus Express spacecraft. A mirror in front of its interferometer is not pointing in the right direction, making it useless until it is moved. Managers hope to fix the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer this week. An identical instrument on the Mars Express probe has also acted up, but it is currently working properly.""

Comments

You could...

[AlexanderDitto]

Try jiggling it back and forth, sometimes that helps.

Alternatively, run it under some hot water for a few seconds.

If all else fails, give it a good swift kick.

The CSA could help here

[Mindwarp]

I believe the CSA have been developing the CanadFinger for just this purpose. Any time something like this sticks you can robotically prod it from the safety of your nice warm Mission Control.



Note - The above post is humorous in content, and does not intend to violate patents past or present on the "Design and Implementation of Remote Digit Activation Devices"

Re: Should take a trick from NASA's playbook

[Black Parrot]

> The ESA should have learned from NASA, and gone with the strategy that has brought such success to the Space Shuttle program: Keep all spacecraft and instruments on the ground on earth, where if something bad happens like a mirror getting out of place, a technician can easily fix it.

Yes, the moon missions would never have been possible if they hadn't kept everything on the ground in Arizona.