Oct 17 2007
From The Space Library
NASA announced the conclusion of the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) mission. FUSE had become inoperable in July 2007 when it became incapable of pointing steadily. NASA had launched FUSE in 1999 to study how chemicals disperse throughout galaxies, as well as the composition of interstellar gas clouds. FUSE’s mission was to help answer important questions about the conditions in the universe immediately following the Big Bang. However, FUSE’s reaction wheels, designed to turn and aim the telescope, holding it on target, had malfunctioned. To operate correctly, FUSE required three reaction wheels, but in November and December 2001, two of the four wheels had stopped operating. FUSE flew too high for the Space Shuttle to carry astronauts to repair it. Therefore, NASA scientist Jeffrey W. Kruk had devised a way to use FUSE’s magnetic torquer bars, designed to act as a weak break against Earth’s magnetic field, as a third wheel to help FUSE’s remaining wheel and backup wheel turn and aim the telescope. This solution had worked until December 2004, when the third reaction wheel had broken down, leaving FUSE with only one working wheel and the torquer bars. The FUSE project team had required 11 months to devise a new pointing system for the telescope. Once the team had completed the repair, FUSE had explored the universe with few interruptions from November 2005 until July 2007. FUSE Project Scientist George Sonneborn, of NASA’s GSFC in Greenbelt, Maryland, remarked that the telescope had collected scientific data of high quality for eight years, longer than its five-year goal.
NASA, “NASA Concludes Successful FUSE Mission,” news release 07-227, 17 October 2007, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/oct/HQ_07227_FUSE.html (accessed 8 September 2010); Frank D. Roylance, “8-Year Space Vigil Goes Dark,” Baltimore Sun, 19 October 2007.
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