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New Horizons

r4pt0r

By r4pt0r
in Science & Spaceflight

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sndrtj

sndrtj

Posted
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To quote Nature:

Update (9:49 p.m. BST, 6 July): The spacecraft went into safe mode because the flight computer was doing too many things at once, the New Horizons team has announced. While one part of the computer was compressing data it had already gathered, another part was burning a future command sequence into flash memory. The two tasks were more than the processor could handle at one time, said project manager Glen Fountain. No similar combination of tasks is expected between now and the 14 July encounter. Although some 30 science observations were lost because of the glitch, the spacecraft is on course to gather science as planned during the closest part of the Pluto flyby.

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smjjames

smjjames

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I see a four-leaf clover in there, southern hemisphere. :D

Yes I know it's not REALLY a four-leaf clover, it's a slightly misshappen four-leaf clover anyway.

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LordFerret

LordFerret

Posted
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New off Google...

"As NASA's New Horizons spacecraft enters the home stretch for its historic July 14 flyby past Pluto, the mission's managers say the glitch that briefly knocked the spacecraft offline over the Fourth of July weekend will never happen again." - http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/ok-nasa-new-horizons-final-approach-pluto-n387696

Humm... will never happen again... happen again... happen again... happen again .....

Is this thing running Win10 or something?

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Camacha

Camacha

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Posted
"As NASA's New Horizons spacecraft enters the home stretch for its historic July 14 flyby past Pluto, the mission's managers say the glitch that briefly knocked the spacecraft offline over the Fourth of July weekend will never happen again." - http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/ok-nasa-new-horizons-final-approach-pluto-n387696

Humm... will never happen again... happen again... happen again... happen again .....

This guy jinxed it big time. Is "Jinxing and how not to" not a mandatory part of any scientific curriculum?

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NFUN

NFUN

Posted
Posted
New off Google...

"As NASA's New Horizons spacecraft enters the home stretch for its historic July 14 flyby past Pluto, the mission's managers say the glitch that briefly knocked the spacecraft offline over the Fourth of July weekend will never happen again." - http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/ok-nasa-new-horizons-final-approach-pluto-n387696

Humm... will never happen again... happen again... happen again... happen again .....

Is this thing running Win10 or something?

Apparently, they are reprogramming it so that it won't go into safe mode during the flyby, no matter what happens. The scientists would rather risk damage to the probe than having a failure at the critical moments. I don't have a source offhand.

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Frida Space

Frida Space

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Apparently, they are reprogramming it so that it won't go into safe mode during the flyby, no matter what happens. The scientists would rather risk damage to the probe than having a failure at the critical moments. I don't have a source offhand.

Yes, that was the original idea: get momentarily rid of most constraints so the s/c doesn't go into safe mode during the flyby. They chose so even before NH launched in 2006. Obviously now they have the confirmation that it is a very much needed thing to do :)

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Geschosskopf

Geschosskopf

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Yes, that was the original idea: get momentarily rid of most constraints so the s/c doesn't go into safe mode during the flyby. They chose so even before NH launched in 2006. Obviously now they have the confirmation that it is a very much needed thing to do :)

And for want of a nail (or a stick of RAM) ....

Oh well, nothing to do but wait and see. At least it's not trying to land on Mars. Flybys were perfected long ago so I'm cautiously optimistic.

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LordFerret

LordFerret

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Apparently, they are reprogramming it so that it won't go into safe mode during the flyby, no matter what happens. The scientists would rather risk damage to the probe than having a failure at the critical moments. I don't have a source offhand.

That's not what I got from reading the article.

What happened as per the article: The processor was trying to handle two operations at the same time; Be it a shortage of memory (which I doubt highly was the issue) or tying up processor resources (becoming I/O bound or CPU bound, which I believe was the issue), the system analyzed it as an overload and did a 'safe mode' reboot. To me that spells potential loss of data on one or both of the tasks it was working on. The change in instructions they've given it (supposedly) will now allow the computer to process only one task at a time.

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NFUN

NFUN

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Posted
That's not what I got from reading the article.

What happened as per the article: The processor was trying to handle two operations at the same time; Be it a shortage of memory (which I doubt highly was the issue) or tying up processor resources (becoming I/O bound or CPU bound, which I believe was the issue), the system analyzed it as an overload and did a 'safe mode' reboot. To me that spells potential loss of data on one or both of the tasks it was working on. The change in instructions they've given it (supposedly) will now allow the computer to process only one task at a time.

You're probably right.

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Kilmeister

Kilmeister

Posted
Posted

I seem to remember reading somewhere during this that NH has two operation modes. NH has the standard mode which just about every spacecraft has in which if there's an error, it'll go into a safe mode and wait for instructions from earth. Also it has a "flyby" type mode where it will continue attempting to record data no matter the operational condition.

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Candlelight

Candlelight

Posted
Posted (edited)

One week to go!

THE HYPE, OH GOD THE IMMENSE HYPE!!!!!!!!

No really, i've been following New Horizons since like 2008, so this is pretty big to me.

And also fun fact: NASA revealed on Twitter that Pluto's rotation is a bit less than 7 days, around 6.39 Earth days to be exact.

So, if we were to look at this mission from Pluto's perspective, technically, New Horizons will arrive "tommorow".

Post: https://twitter.com/NASA_Marshall/status/618407719670816768/photo/1

Edited by Candlelight
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Camacha

Camacha

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Posted
That's not what I got from reading the article.

What happened as per the article: The processor was trying to handle two operations at the same time; Be it a shortage of memory (which I doubt highly was the issue) or tying up processor resources (becoming I/O bound or CPU bound, which I believe was the issue), the system analyzed it as an overload and did a 'safe mode' reboot. To me that spells potential loss of data on one or both of the tasks it was working on. The change in instructions they've given it (supposedly) will now allow the computer to process only one task at a time.

A loss of observation data has already been confirmed.

Jinx? Science?

Pick one.

Joke? Killing all the fun? Pick one ;)

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Camacha

Camacha

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Posted
Wow, now that's a fast* and low encounter !

*im assuming that wasn't a real time animation though

It still is a rather fast pass and a low encounter. It is not unlike driving from Norway to South Africa, only to photograph a house from the passenger seat of the car as you speed by. It is not ideal, but it is all we are reasonably going to get.

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