Joe Palka
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Understanding those flares is key to understanding whether an orbiting planet might have an atmosphere that could sustain life.
SPARKS was built and is operated at the Arizona State University.
Ground controllers have now checked out its instruments and say it's ready to start making scientific measurements.
Lunar Trailblazer launched successfully on February 26th last year.
But shortly after launch, it was clear something was wrong with the power system.
The NASA review found a glaring error.
Software that was supposed to point the spacecraft's solar panels towards the sun instead pointed them 180 degrees away from the sun.
The panel said other software flaws made it impossible to recover from the pointing error.
The review cited management deficiencies at both Lockheed Martin, the company that built the spacecraft, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for failing to catch the problems before launch.
Lockheed and NASA both said they had learned lessons and would do better in future.
Lunar Trailblazer launched successfully on February 26th last year.
But shortly after launch, it was clear something was wrong with the power system.
The NASA review found a glaring error.
Software that was supposed to point the spacecraft's solar panels towards the sun instead pointed them 180 degrees away from the sun.
The panel said other software flaws made it impossible to recover from the pointing error.
The review cited management deficiencies at both Lockheed Martin, the company that built the spacecraft, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for failing to catch the problems before launch.
Lockheed and NASA both said they had learned lessons and would do better in future.