04-05-2016, 09:11 PM
HOTPE wrote:
"The Joint Space Operations Center, using a series of ground based telescopes including one in Hawaii (Maui), have determined the space based JAXA Hitomi X-ray observatory has broken into five pieces. Unfortunately as it is in outer space, a repair crew cannot drive to the location to fix the problem as they would on earth:"
Latest info I have is that several pieces have been detected in decaying orbits, some of which will soon burn up in the atmosphere. Initially only a few pieces were detected but now more have been seen.
My guess is a catastrophic event in the observatory's cryogenics which caused a small explosion, but that's not known yet. As you say, there's little chance of sending engineers and technicians to fix the problem. It only takes two hours to send people up from sea-level to the summit to fix problems, the same can't be said for space-based observatories.
"The Joint Space Operations Center, using a series of ground based telescopes including one in Hawaii (Maui), have determined the space based JAXA Hitomi X-ray observatory has broken into five pieces. Unfortunately as it is in outer space, a repair crew cannot drive to the location to fix the problem as they would on earth:"
Latest info I have is that several pieces have been detected in decaying orbits, some of which will soon burn up in the atmosphere. Initially only a few pieces were detected but now more have been seen.
My guess is a catastrophic event in the observatory's cryogenics which caused a small explosion, but that's not known yet. As you say, there's little chance of sending engineers and technicians to fix the problem. It only takes two hours to send people up from sea-level to the summit to fix problems, the same can't be said for space-based observatories.