Jul 16 1998
From The Space Library
The joint committee of NASA and the European Space Agency investigating the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) incident issued a preliminary report. The committee found that several errors had led to the loss of the satellite's signal. First, Mission Control had "unknowingly activated" two preprogrammed sequences, which lacked commands to reorient the spacecraft properly. The resulting anomalies had caused SOHO to enter into emergency Sun reacquisition mode (ESR). A "rapid decision" to turn off one of the craft's gyroscopes had ultimately triggered two more ESRs, sending the spacecraft "flailing out of control." Controllers also discovered that "undetected failures," which had occurred sometime earlier in the year, "had taken out three of the four batteries."
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