Webb instrument back in operation
Engineers have returned NIRISS, the near infrared spectrograph instrument on the Webb Space Telescope, to full operation after rebooting its software and determining the cause of the problem.
On Jan. 15, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) experienced a communications delay within the science instrument, causing its flight software to time out. Following a full investigation by NASA and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) teams, the cause was determined to likely be a galactic cosmic ray, a form of high-energy radiation from outside our solar system that can sometimes disrupt electrical systems. Encountering cosmic rays is a normal and expected part of operating any spacecraft. This cosmic ray event affected logic in the solid-state circuitry of NIRISS electronics known as the Field Programmable Gate Array. Webb engineers determined that rebooting the instrument would bring it back to full functionality.
After completing the reboot, NIRISS telemetry data demonstrated normal timing, and to fully confirm, the team scheduled a test observation. On Jan. 28, the Webb team sent commands to the instrument to perform the observation, and the results confirmed on Jan. 30 NIRISS is back to full scientific operations.
Engineers actually have a name for such cosmic ray incidents that effect software. They call it a bitflip.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Engineers have returned NIRISS, the near infrared spectrograph instrument on the Webb Space Telescope, to full operation after rebooting its software and determining the cause of the problem.
On Jan. 15, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) experienced a communications delay within the science instrument, causing its flight software to time out. Following a full investigation by NASA and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) teams, the cause was determined to likely be a galactic cosmic ray, a form of high-energy radiation from outside our solar system that can sometimes disrupt electrical systems. Encountering cosmic rays is a normal and expected part of operating any spacecraft. This cosmic ray event affected logic in the solid-state circuitry of NIRISS electronics known as the Field Programmable Gate Array. Webb engineers determined that rebooting the instrument would bring it back to full functionality.
After completing the reboot, NIRISS telemetry data demonstrated normal timing, and to fully confirm, the team scheduled a test observation. On Jan. 28, the Webb team sent commands to the instrument to perform the observation, and the results confirmed on Jan. 30 NIRISS is back to full scientific operations.
Engineers actually have a name for such cosmic ray incidents that effect software. They call it a bitflip.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
*affect. “Effect” means to create the software.
I mean, I’ve been enjoying the “Three Body Problem” show from Tencent too, but . . .
Paul Schillito, of Curious Droid, did a video a couple of years ago on sending data back from deep space probes. Although he doesn’t get into the interesting parts, such as signal processing (both onboard and on the ground), data handling, and data compression or handling bit flips, data dropouts, or interruption events, it is a good primer on data gathering methods and why the instruments are not necessarily the state of the art.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrD1oe5_zvw (15 minutes)
Troubleshooting problems is thought out extensively during the design phase, and when there are problems, a fix is not assumed (just reboot and see if that clears it up) but are carefully analyzed to make sure that the “solution” will not make matters worse.
Unfortunately, not all planning and design works out as intended:
https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/design-flaw-in-indias-mars-orbiter/
From the linked article in the above BTB link:
[ellipses in original]
As Robert wrote in his post: “They are re-purposing the instrument to measure the reflected sunlight coming off the Martian surface ”
However, India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) probe did some good work: https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/indias-mars-orbiter-confirms-global-dust-storms-speeds-atmosphere-loss/ but ran out of attitude control propellants last year and its mission has ended.
The Webb telescope is returning excellent data that has shaken up the astronomical community with a new controversy:
https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-didnt-break-big-bang-explained