NASA’s New Horizons probe suffered a glitch that resulted in a temporary loss of communication between the probe and mission control.
RADIO SILENCE
The Pluto-bound spacecraft experienced a computer malfunction at 1:54 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 4 that disrupted radio contact between New Horizons and the mission control team at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland.
Fortunately, the probe’s autopilot functioned as designed and was able to force itself into safe mode and switch to its backup computer after detecting the glitch. So the radio silence only lasted approximately 80 minutes.
INVESTIGATING THE GLITCH
NASA assembled the New Horizons Anomaly Review Board at 4:00 p.m. ET on July 4 to review data and assess the cause of the unexpected computer glitch. Preliminary data shows the probe is healthy and still on its proper course.
The team hopes the available information will be enough to properly diagnose and remedy the issue in order to return the spacecraft to its regular operating mode.
LOST TIME
New Horizons is unable to collect any scientific data until NASA can return the probe to its full-functioning mode.
The spacecraft is nearly three billion miles away from Earth. Because of this vast distance, it takes four-and-a-half hours for radio communication from Earth to reach the spacecraft, and four-and-a-half hours for messages to return. This nine-hour communication delay means that lots of data collection time has been lost due to the computer glitch. NASA is unsure how long it will take to restore normal operations, but it says full recovery is expected to take “from one to several days.”
ON TO PLUTO
If, in fact, NASA’s New Horizons Anomaly Review Board determines that the New Horizons spacecraft is still on course, and no corrections are needed, it is possible that the probe is still on schedule for its Pluto flyby on July 14. The spacecraft is also scheduled to pass by Pluto’s moons.
This historic mission will provide scientists with the first-ever close-up images and data from Pluto and its moons. Hopefully the New Horizons Anomaly Review Board will be able to restore New Horizons to a fully functioning spacecraft without much delay.
