The U.S. Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) observes planets, distant galaxies, in short the universe, with a large number of spacecraft. However, the latest news of the Science Alert site has drawn attention. Because according to that news, the US Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) fixed the malfunctioning spacecraft, just as many people fixed their laptop computer that was causing problems. Here are the details…
THEY APPLIED A SIMPLE AND TRADITIONAL PROCEDURE
According to the report, engineers encountered a problem with NASA’s 15-year-old Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft that could end the mission. To fix the problem, the engineers followed the same simple and traditional procedure that many people do to get their troublesome laptop back to working properly: They turned the tool off and then back on.
This method has also been successful. IBEX is fully operational.
In fact, they told the spacecraft to shut itself down. Unlike the famous HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey, IBEX followed this command and then turned itself back on.
Of course in space there is a more ‘official’ term for the ‘close, open’ method that many people use on their computers. This is called firecode reset, which means externally resetting the spacecraft.
After this method called ‘Firecode reset’ worked, IBEX started working normally again.
About the size of a bus tire, the IBEX has been operating almost flawlessly since its launch in October 2008. Its job is to map the boundary where winds from the Sun interact with winds from other stars.
(Photo source: NASA)