- NASA engineers have managed to restore the Interstellar Boundary Explorer spacecraft to working condition by using the oldest trick in the computing book.
- IBEX was put into contingency mode in February after NASA reset its onboard systems and the almost 15-year-old spacecraft’s flight computer subsequently failed to respond to commands uploaded from mission control. Engineers have since performed a so-called “firecode reset” as the craft’s orbit reached its closest point to Earth.
- “To take the spacecraft out of a contingency mode, the mission team performed a firecode reset (which is an external reset of the spacecraft) instead of waiting for the spacecraft to perform an autonomous reset and power cycle on March 4,” NASA confirmed on Monday.
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NASA Fixes Spacecraft By Turning It Off And On Again
This illustration made available by Johns Hopkins APL and NASA depicts NASA's DART probe, center, and Italian Space Agency's (ASI) LICIACube, bottom right, at the Didymos system before impact with the asteroid Dimorphos, left. DART is expected to zero in on the asteroid Monday, Sept. 26, 2022, intent on slamming it head-on at 14,000 mph. The impact should be just enough to nudge the asteroid into a slightly tighter orbit around its companion space rock. (Steve Gribben/Johns Hopkins APL/NASA via AP)
