A NASA spacecraft exploring a key deep-space zone is in contingency.
NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) skilled a flight laptop reset Feb. 18, company officers mentioned in an replace Friday (Feb. 24). The spacecraft launched in October 2008 to look at the outer fringe of the heliosphere, or the “bubble” that represents the boundary between the sun‘s atmosphere and interstellar space.
Flight controllers have been unsuccessful in “regaining command functionality” regardless of resetting {hardware} and software program on the bottom, the company mentioned within the statement (opens in new tab). “Flight software program nonetheless is working, and the spacecraft techniques seem like purposeful,” the assertion added, however famous instructions aren’t processing aboard IBEX.
Associated: Mysterious energy ribbon at solar system’s edge a ‘cosmic roadmap’
IBEX is already programmed to reset itself and restart its energy on March 4, NASA officers famous, which is able to present a backup if the mission crew is unable to unravel the issue. “NASA will present further info on IBEX following the reset except the company is ready to discover a answer earlier than,” company officers mentioned.
IBEX was launched almost 15 years in the past to “uncover the worldwide interplay between plasma from the solar wind and the interstellar medium on the boundary area of the solar system,” according to (opens in new tab) the Southwest Analysis Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio, which leads the mission.
The spacecraft made its first map of the heliosphere within the first 12 months after its launch, in 2009, and continues to map your entire sky each six months. It’s most well-known for locating a dense area of particles, nicknamed the “IBEX ribbon.”
The ribbon happens as impartial hydrogen atoms carried within the solar wind (or fixed stream of particles from our sun) work together with the magnetic discipline of the Milky Way. The ions’ interactions with the magnetic discipline creates vibrations or waves within the discipline and the ions are constrained in ribbon-like shapes. Scientists are learning this phenomenon to be taught extra concerning the heliosphere.
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a ebook about space medication. Comply with her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
