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NASA Universe-Watching Satellite Losing Its Cool

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the grandma-made-it-a-sweater dept.

coondoggie writes "NASA this week said its Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE satellite is heating up — not a good thing when your primary mission instrument needs to be kept cold to work. According to NASA, WISE has two coolant tanks that keep the spacecraft's normal operating temperature at 12 Kelvin (minus 438 degrees Fahrenheit). The outer, secondary tank is now depleted, causing the temperature to increase. One of WISE's infrared detectors, the longest-wavelength band most sensitive to heat, stopped producing useful data once the telescope warmed to 31 Kelvin (minus 404 degrees Fahrenheit)."

16 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. It's warming up--pretty much on schedule by PeterM+from+Berkeley · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you read the article it says that the solid hydrogen was expected to disappear about 10 months after launch, and it was launched in Dec 2009. Now it's 8/10.

    What's so remarkable about something being used up that was designed to be used up?

    Nothing to see here, move along!

    --PM

    1. Re:It's warming up--pretty much on schedule by Demonantis · · Score: 4, Informative
      Not to mention

      NASA said WISE completed its primary mission, a full scan of the entire sky in infrared light, on July 17, 2010.

      Sounds like a non-issue there.

    2. Re:It's warming up--pretty much on schedule by barzok · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Maybe we've just become accustomed to NASA missions far exceeding their expected duration.

    3. Re:It's warming up--pretty much on schedule by natehoy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Are you saying the consumables on board were consumed on schedule, as designed and as expected? STOP THE PRESSES!

      NASA's problem is that Spirit and Opportunity lasted so ridiculously long past their stated mission that merely exceeding expectations by a reasonable engineering design factor now looks like newsworthy incompetence.

      They should have ended that mission on time by nuking them from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

      --
      "This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
    4. Re:It's warming up--pretty much on schedule by ConfusedVorlon · · Score: 4, Funny

      PR Dept: We haven't said anything for a while. What's new?
      Scientist: Nothing happening really - we're not even getting much from WISE now
      PR Dept: What? No WISE?
      Scientist: Exactly, it's coming to the planned end of usefulness and heating up
      PR Dept: [hitting speeddial] Is that the New York Times? One of our satellites is about to explode...

      --
      VLC Remote for iPhone and Android
    5. Re:It's warming up--pretty much on schedule by sjames · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Dead on. Furthermore, it IS still working on a secondary bonus mission since all but the longest wavelength is still working great. Apparently, NASA is not olny expected to extend it's missions well beyond their designed endpoint, they are expected to do so with no degradation whatsoever.

      I guess at this rate, they'll be given a big rubber band, a sack lunch and a scuba tank for their budget and instructed to carry out a manned moon mission.

    6. Re:It's warming up--pretty much on schedule by Angst+Badger · · Score: 4, Insightful

      NASA's problem is that Spirit and Opportunity lasted so ridiculously long past their stated mission that merely exceeding expectations by a reasonable engineering design factor now looks like newsworthy incompetence.

      It's not just the rovers. Despite some genuinely newsworthy fuckups, when NASA gets it right -- which is most of the time -- they usually do a stellar job, pun intended. A fair number of NASA probes have lasted decades beyond their primary mission and continue to produce useful data. Voyager I, for example, is still transmitting thirty-three years after its launch.

      Some people have just got to have their government incompetence stories even when the government is being unbelievably competent.

      --
      Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
    7. Re:It's warming up--pretty much on schedule by Chris+Burke · · Score: 3, Funny

      Some people have just got to have their government incompetence stories even when the government is being unbelievably competent.

      The government is so incompetent, they can't even fail right!

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
  2. Time for a classic... by hpa · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enfn9PL5htQ

  3. What to do by esocid · · Score: 3, Insightful

    WISE's infrared telescope and detectors are kept chilled inside a Thermos-like tank of solid hydrogen, called a cryostat. This prevents WISE from picking up the heat, or infrared, signature of its own instrument. The solid hydrogen, called a cryogen, was expected to last about 10 months -- the mission launched in December 2009.

    The primary tank is still running, and now will do a

    second survey of about one-half the sky. It's possible the remaining coolant will run out before that scan is finished. Scientists say the second scan will help identify new and nearby objects, as well as those that have changed in brightness. It could also help to confirm oddball objects picked up in the first scan, NASA stated.

    It appears, to the uninformed such as myself, that this satellite was meant to have a life of about 2 years. The good news is that it accomplished its primary mission. The bad news is that the NASA boys either didn't plan accordingly to cool it properly for its second run, or it was a hopeful objective.

    --
    Absolute power corrupts absolutely. indymedia
    1. Re:What to do by Confusador · · Score: 3, Informative

      The primary mission was to map the whole sky once. They left themselves some reserves in case of problems, so they were expecting to be able to do a second partial map, but we covered their success when it happened back in July. So, this is news, but not a surprise. You can find more details on their site.

  4. Re:So that's like... by esocid · · Score: 4, Informative

    But NASA is a scientific entity. We use SI units. Fahrenheit is, as you put it, just a common measure of temperature.

    --
    Absolute power corrupts absolutely. indymedia
  5. Re:So that's like... by chihowa · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Frankly, this whole discussion is moot. -404F isn't any more or less informative to most people than -242C. They're both "really really fucking cold".

    The only useful unit for temperatures that low is K.

    --
    If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
  6. Re:So that's like... by rvw · · Score: 3, Funny

    Frankly, this whole discussion is moot. -404F isn't any more or less informative to most people than -242C. They're both "really really fucking cold".

    The only useful unit for temperatures that low is K.

    It seems the only thing missing here is u. FCK!

  7. Re:So that's like... by chronosan · · Score: 5, Funny

    -404F = Heat not found?

  8. Re:Isn't space 'cold'? by Chris+Burke · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's heating up due to absorbing solar radiation and the operation of the electronics on board. Space is cold, but that doesn't help our poor telescope because there's nothing for its heat to be transmitted to. It's not like setting a hot mug of coffee outside on a cold winter day. There, conduction and convection are doing most of the work. Conduction, by the way, is why the sun hitting one side of the scope results in the entire telescope heating up.

    In space the only effective way to lose heat is via radiation. The amount of blackbody radiation emitted is proportional to temperature, and the equilibrium point where the telescope is losing as much heat as it is gaining is well above 12K.

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are