NASA Universe-Watching Satellite Losing Its Cool

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)."

Comments

It's warming up--pretty much on schedule

[PeterM from Berkeley]

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

Re:It's warming up--pretty much on schedule

[Demonantis]

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.

Re:It's warming up--pretty much on schedule

[barzok]

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

Re:It's warming up--pretty much on schedule

[natehoy]

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.

Re:It's warming up--pretty much on schedule

[ConfusedVorlon]

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...

Re:It's warming up--pretty much on schedule

[sjames]

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.

Re:It's warming up--pretty much on schedule

[Angst Badger]

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.

Time for a classic...

[hpa]

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

Re:So that's like...

[esocid]

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

Re:So that's like...

[chronosan]

-404F = Heat not found?