Software Patch Fixes Euclid Space Telescope Navigation Bug
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
The European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope is back to normal and will resume its mission, thanks to a software update that was required after its navigation sensors mistakenly identified solar ray signals as stars.
But shortly after its instruments were deployed and it snapped a first picture a month later, mission control discovered the telescope was failing to focus on stars. Squiggly lines and circles captured in another image revealed that Euclid was looping around and struggling to lock onto distant stars to keep it steady during its observations.
Mission control pinpointed the issue and realized the telescope's Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS), which the craft uses to locate a set of landmark stars to help navigate and align its instruments on designated targets, was to blame. The optical sensors were mistakenly identifying photons, ejected by the Sun during periods of high solar activity, as stars.
The FGS analyzes light from distant sources and helps control Euclid's orientation. Since it was misinterpreting the solar rays as stars, the telescope was moving haphazardly making it difficult to focus its sight. Working together with aerospace companies Thales Alenia Space and Leonardo, ESA engineers updated its software to change the way its sensors characterize stars.
The patch was uploaded to Euclid, and the telescope is now functioning normally. Mission control will continue testing its performance for a little while longer before it officially begins to collect data.
"The performance verification phase that was interrupted in August has now fully restarted and all the observations are carried out correctly," Giuseppe Racca, Euclid Project Manager, said before the weekend. "This phase will last until late November, but we are confident that the mission performance will prove to be outstanding and the regular scientific survey observations can start thereafter."
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