NASA’s Sun-Watching Spacecraft Damaged
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
A malfunctioning antenna motor has partially disabled NASA’s sun-watching Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, a spacecraft that helps provide early warning of satellite-damaging solar storms.
Unless corrected, periodic blackouts are expected to prevent the transmission of 20% of the spacecraft’s scientific data to Earth.
Although such storms have damaged satellites in the past, advances in technology have made modern satellites better able to weather a solar storm.
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