Swift enters safe mode over gyro issue while NASA preps patch to shake it off
(2024/03/19)
- Reference: 1710860409
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/03/19/swift_enters_safe_mode/
- Source link:
NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has dropped into safe mode after one of the spacecraft's three gyroscopes showed signs of degradation.
[1]The fix will require a software update to permit the spacecraft to continue with its two remaining gyros.
The spacecraft, which was launched in 2004 for a planned two-year mission, is designed to study gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). It was originally called the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer but was later renamed for its Principal Investigator, Neil Gehrels.
[2]
As with several other NASA missions – for example, [3]Chandra – Swift's future is uncertain. Although a 2022 Senior Review panel deemed Swift the top-ranked satellite among operating missions other than Hubble and Chandra, its extended mission operations only run through FY2025. NASA is due to conduct the next Senior Review in spring next year.
[4]
[5]
According to NASA's [6]FY2025 congressional justification [PDF]: "Science highlights from the last year include the discovery of a star torn apart on repeated orbits around a distant supermassive black hole (a repeating tidal disruption event)."
[7]Swift [PDF] has three instruments onboard for studying gamma-ray bursts and their afterglow. The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT), which can survey a sixth of the entire sky at one time, is used to detect a burst. The spacecraft will then swiftly (geddit?) repoint itself to enable the X-ray telescope (XRT) and Ultraviolet/Optical telescope (UVOT) to perform additional observations.
[8]NASA missions are being delayed by oversubscribed, overburdened, and out-of-date supercomputers
[9]Third time is almost the charm for SpaceX's Starship
[10]Voyager 1 starts making sense again after months of babble
[11]NASA's FY2025 budget request means tough times ahead for Chandra and Hubble
However, pointing the spacecraft requires gyros, and on March 15, engineers noted increased "noise" from one of the trio of gyroscopes. The degraded performance made it difficult for the spacecraft to acquire a star tracker lock, meaning science observations were impacted. Thus, the spacecraft was put into safe mode while engineers devised a solution.
The good news is that Swift can handle a failed gyroscope and still meet its mission goals. The bad news is that the flight software will need a patch to allow Swift to operate correctly with just two gyros.
[12]
NASA said: "Until that patch has been successfully deployed, science operations are expected to be very limited."
Gyros are pesky things in spacecraft since they are moving parts that will inevitably eventually experience wear – even if that wear occurs many years beyond their designers' expectations. While gyroless operations have extended the lives of some spacecraft, for example – [13]ESA's Mars Express – the mission requirements of others, particularly observatories, make alternative operation modes difficult or impossible to implement.
The Register contacted NASA to check on the health of the remaining Swift gyros and what options exist should another gyro show signs of failure. We will update this piece should the agency respond. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://science.nasa.gov/missions/swift/nasas-swift-temporarily-suspends-science-operations/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZfnEpakj@KBlRikOhxILsgAAAQg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/12/nasas_fy2025_budget_request_means/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZfnEpakj@KBlRikOhxILsgAAAQg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[6] https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/nasa-fy-2025-congressional-justification.pdf
[7] https://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/about_swift/Sci_Fact_Sheet.pdf
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/15/nasa_oig_supercomputing_audit/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/14/spacex_starship_launch/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/14/voyager_1_not_dead/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/12/nasas_fy2025_budget_request_means/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZfnEpakj@KBlRikOhxILsgAAAQg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://blogs.esa.int/mex/2023/06/02/mars-express-five-years-of-gyroless-operations/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
[1]The fix will require a software update to permit the spacecraft to continue with its two remaining gyros.
The spacecraft, which was launched in 2004 for a planned two-year mission, is designed to study gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). It was originally called the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer but was later renamed for its Principal Investigator, Neil Gehrels.
[2]
As with several other NASA missions – for example, [3]Chandra – Swift's future is uncertain. Although a 2022 Senior Review panel deemed Swift the top-ranked satellite among operating missions other than Hubble and Chandra, its extended mission operations only run through FY2025. NASA is due to conduct the next Senior Review in spring next year.
[4]
[5]
According to NASA's [6]FY2025 congressional justification [PDF]: "Science highlights from the last year include the discovery of a star torn apart on repeated orbits around a distant supermassive black hole (a repeating tidal disruption event)."
[7]Swift [PDF] has three instruments onboard for studying gamma-ray bursts and their afterglow. The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT), which can survey a sixth of the entire sky at one time, is used to detect a burst. The spacecraft will then swiftly (geddit?) repoint itself to enable the X-ray telescope (XRT) and Ultraviolet/Optical telescope (UVOT) to perform additional observations.
[8]NASA missions are being delayed by oversubscribed, overburdened, and out-of-date supercomputers
[9]Third time is almost the charm for SpaceX's Starship
[10]Voyager 1 starts making sense again after months of babble
[11]NASA's FY2025 budget request means tough times ahead for Chandra and Hubble
However, pointing the spacecraft requires gyros, and on March 15, engineers noted increased "noise" from one of the trio of gyroscopes. The degraded performance made it difficult for the spacecraft to acquire a star tracker lock, meaning science observations were impacted. Thus, the spacecraft was put into safe mode while engineers devised a solution.
The good news is that Swift can handle a failed gyroscope and still meet its mission goals. The bad news is that the flight software will need a patch to allow Swift to operate correctly with just two gyros.
[12]
NASA said: "Until that patch has been successfully deployed, science operations are expected to be very limited."
Gyros are pesky things in spacecraft since they are moving parts that will inevitably eventually experience wear – even if that wear occurs many years beyond their designers' expectations. While gyroless operations have extended the lives of some spacecraft, for example – [13]ESA's Mars Express – the mission requirements of others, particularly observatories, make alternative operation modes difficult or impossible to implement.
The Register contacted NASA to check on the health of the remaining Swift gyros and what options exist should another gyro show signs of failure. We will update this piece should the agency respond. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://science.nasa.gov/missions/swift/nasas-swift-temporarily-suspends-science-operations/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZfnEpakj@KBlRikOhxILsgAAAQg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/12/nasas_fy2025_budget_request_means/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZfnEpakj@KBlRikOhxILsgAAAQg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZfnEpakj@KBlRikOhxILsgAAAQg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/nasa-fy-2025-congressional-justification.pdf
[7] https://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/about_swift/Sci_Fact_Sheet.pdf
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/15/nasa_oig_supercomputing_audit/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/14/spacex_starship_launch/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/14/voyager_1_not_dead/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/12/nasas_fy2025_budget_request_means/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZfnEpakj@KBlRikOhxILsgAAAQg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://blogs.esa.int/mex/2023/06/02/mars-express-five-years-of-gyroless-operations/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Hot or cold spares?
cyberdemon
Are all three normally spinning, or is one of them left cold?
If all three are spinning then they probably wear out at a similar rate.. A bit like disks in a sodding RAID where Sod's Law dictates that N+1 will fail on the same day where N is the level of redundancy
Re: Hot or cold spares?
DJO
They need 3, one for each axis.
With software interpolation they can jury rig it to work with 2 but they'll probably need to reorientate the craft each time to get readings from different alignments to replace the missing data.
Question for space nerds:
Do they now use solid state gyroscopes like we have in our phones or are satellites still using old-school gyros?
Edit: It seems, yes, and no. Cassini–Huygens uses a solid state gyro but not like the ones in phones
Re: Hot or cold spares?
Paul Smith
Solid state gyros are used to determine orientation, not to influence it.
Amazing
One gyro wearing out after 20 years. NASA could really build kit in those days.