NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft experienced a glitch just 10 days ahead of its planned Pluto flyby.
NASA’s New Horizons probe experienced an anomaly on Saturday that resulted in the temporary loss of communication with Earth and put the spacecraft into a protective “safe mode” just 10 days ahead of its historic flyby of Pluto.
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland lost contact with the New Horizons spacecraft at 1:54 p.m. EDT on July 4. Communications were reestablished with the spacecraft at 3:15 p.m. EDT using NASA’s Deep Space Network.
“During that time the autonomous autopilot on board the spacecraft recognized a problem and – as it’s programmed to do in such a situation – switched from the main to the backup computer,” according to an update on NASA’s website. “The autopilot placed the spacecraft in ‘safe mode,’ and commanded the backup computer to reinitiate communication with Earth.”
In response to the event, the New Horizons’ Anomaly Review Board was assembled at 4 p.m. EDT to assess the problem and work on return the spacecraft to normal operations. Full recovery of the spacecraft may take several days due to the 9-hour round-trip transit time for a signal to be sent from Earth to the spacecraft and back.
The New Horizons probe will be temporarily unable to collect science data until it is brought out of safe mode and returned to normal operation. If the spacecraft is restored to normal operation withint a couple days, then impacts on the probe’s primary science mission should be minimal.
In spite of the anomaly, the spacecraft is on course for its historic flyby with Pluto. Even if NASA is unable to recover the spacecraft from its “safe mode” it will still fly by the dwarf planet on schedule, making its closest approach at 7:49:57 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, July 14.
Editor’s Note: This story will be updated as new information becomes available.