NASA reestablishes contact with one in every of two TRACERS satellites

WASHINGTON — NASA has restored contact with one in every of a pair of house science satellites that bumped into issues shortly after its July launch.

In a Sept. 11 assertion, NASA mentioned it reconnected with SV1, one in every of two an identical Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, or TRACERS, launched July 23.

The different spacecraft, SV2, accomplished post-launch commissioning with out problem. SV1, nonetheless, had an influence subsystem drawback two days after launch that induced intermittent contacts. On Aug. 5, NASA mentioned SV1 appeared to function solely when its photo voltaic arrays have been in daylight. Controllers deliberate to attempt restoring communications later in August, when the arrays have been higher aligned with the solar.

The Sept. 11 replace, NASA’s first since Aug. 5, gave no new particulars about the issue. The mission staff “is working to recover the spacecraft and establish science operations,” the company mentioned.

TRACERS is designed to make use of two spacecraft, passing by way of the identical area of house as much as two minutes aside, to check how the photo voltaic wind {couples} with Earth’s magnetic discipline. It’s not clear how science objectives could change if just one spacecraft, constructed by Millennium Space Systems, is working.

TRACERS launched on a Falcon 9 rideshare mission that additionally carried a number of different NASA smallsats. They included Athena EPIC, or Economical Payload Integration Cost, a satellite tv for pc with contributions from NASA, the U.S. Space Force and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The mission will check modular satellite tv for pc designs and an Earth remark instrument.

On Aug. 5, NASA reported SV1 by no means transmitted a beacon sign after launch, making it more durable for controllers to determine the spacecraft and command it. That was the company’s final replace till Sept. 11.

In its Sept. 11 assertion to SpaceInformation, NASA mentioned mission companions and producer NovaWurks had confirmed the spacecraft’s location and have been working to revive communications. “The team is also working to determine the cause of the initial missed signal acquisition and any factors that may have contributed to the delayed communication downlinks,” the company mentioned.

Another payload from the identical launch, although, is performing properly. NASA’s Polylingual Experimental Terminal, or PExT, is flying on the Bard satellite tv for pc constructed by York Space Systems. PExT is testing communications throughout a number of satellite tv for pc networks, together with NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, or TDRS, system, together with industrial companies.

NASA mentioned Sept. 9 that Bard commissioning was full and PExT commissioning was underway, with work set to wrap up by the top of September.

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