NASA scientists breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when they were able to reestablish contact with the CAPSTONE satellite, which fell into radio silence on Monday.
Fortunately for NASA scientists, CAPSTONE is in good shape.
A bad command and a software error are what caused the dropout.
The issue arose during the commission of the CAPSTONE satellite, which typically entails establishing contact with the satellite and checking its systems.
While attempting to access diagnostic data to investigate an issue with CAPSTONE's ranging data, an improper formatted command was sent to the satellite, rendering its radio inoperable.
The fault detection system couldn't fix the radio because of a fault in the flight software.
Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, commented on the news. It's hard to not support the little guy.
There are some positives that come from this mistake. The ground team were able to regain control after CAPSTONE's flight software was able to fix things on its own.
While simultaneously topping off its battery charge, it also kept its solar panels oriented. It's pretty impressive.
NASA's Artemis program aims to return humans to the moon and the Moon-bound satellite is a major step forward.
If there aren't any other problems, the satellite will be the first to perform a special kind of elliptical around the Moon, laying the groundwork for the Gateway station.
There is a NASA satellite headed towards the moon.
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