Earth at night from International Space Station. Image: NASA
NASA reported this morning that it had lost its main communications link with the International Space Station, and blamed the problem on a computer glitch. The six astronauts on the station, it said, were fine, and still able to talk, at least intermittently, with controllers through Russian ground stations.
A statement posted by NASA:
“This morning, at approximately 9:45 a.m. EST, the International Space Station experienced a loss of communication with the ground. At that time, flight controllers in Houston were updating the software onboard the station’s flight computers when one of the station’s data relay systems malfunctioned. The primary computer that controls critical station functions defaulted to a backup computer, but was not allowing the station to communicate with NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellites.
“Mission Control Houston was able to communicate with the crew as the space station flew over Russian ground stations before 11:00 a.m. EST and instructed the crew to connect a backup computer to begin the process of restoring communications. Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford reported that the station’s status was fine and that the crew was doing well. More details will follow as events warrant.”
There was a bit of commotion at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where public affairs people pointed out that at the moment, the astronauts are able to talk directly to ground stations as they pass overhead, much the way astronauts did in the early days of the space program. Since the 1980s, NASA has had a fleet of Tracking and Data Relay satellites — TDRS for short — in much higher orbit, which allow for communication with few interruptions.
The problem came up while new software was being sent to the station’s main computer. “The computer basically burped, for lack of a better word,” said Josh Byerly of NASA.
Related: Chasing the Russian Meteor
There are six crew members on board — Americans Ford and Tom Marshburn, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitiskiy, Evgeny Tarelkin and Roman Romanenko, and Canadian Chris Hadfield. NASA says they’re already at work configuring a backup computer.
NASA image
Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com
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