The weeks go by and the problems add up for the American space agency. Just days after having to deal with the unexpected return to the Earth’s atmosphere of a satellite, more than 30 years old, NASA today encounters a new problem concerning the thrusters of one of its spacecraft sent to the Earth. ‘Space.
The ‘Lunar Flashlight’ satellite en route to the South Pole of the Moon is currently encountering various propulsion problems endangering the future of the mission. Launched last December by Space X and under the impetus of NASA and the Japanese space program, the satellite aims to search for the presence of ice on the surface of the south pole of our natural satellite. However, to date, three of its thrusters (out of four in total) are underperforming.
Premature consumption of a larger quantity of fuel could thus condemn the planned orbiting of the satellite near the surface of the moon. At the moment Lunar Flashlight only uses its thrusters for short pulses occasional few seconds to correct its trajectory. As it nears its target, it will then burn most of its tank to get into its intended orbit.
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Obstructed thrusters, mission in danger?
According to the teams of the American space agency and its Japanese counterpart, the problem is due to a obstruction partial fuel lines preventing thrusters from operating normally. This problem, noticed by scientists from the first days of the mission, could be circumvented by different techniques that engineers are developing.
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The first is to burn the fuel for a longer period of time to try to dislodge the object blocking the lines. If that doesn’t work, NASA scientists are also planning a escape route achievable with the thrust currently available and which would allow the satellite to carry out its mission almost normally.
Source : digitaltrends.com
