probe

About 9.5 billion kilometers from Earth, a ship built by humans more than two decades ago continued to advance through a region of the Solar System that we barely know. He had left in January 2006had left Pluto behind and had been in hibernation for 321 days, almost silently, while its trajectory took it further and further away from us. So after almost a year, New Horizons sent the signal confirming his awakening. It did not bring spectacular images nor did it announce a great discovery: it simply told us that it had come out of its dream and was still in good condition. That signal did not respond to an order sent from Earth that same morning. Before going into hibernation, the team had uploaded a sequence of instructions to the main computer that told the probe when to wake up its systems. New Horizons executed that programming on June 23 and came out of hibernation without needing a new order from our planet. Only then did he send his message to us. When the Deep Space Network station near Madrid received itabout eight hours and 52 minutes had passed since waking up. From this station near Madrid confirmation was received that New Horizons had woken up and was still in good condition. Hibernating didn’t mean turning off the ship and hoping it would come back on months later. During that period, a good part of its systems remained disconnected to reduce consumption and wear, but the flight computer continued to monitor the general condition while the vehicle rotated stably on itself. Once a week, in addition, it sent a simple beacon to indicate if everything was still in order. This way, the team could know that New Horizons was still healthy without maintaining constant communication or unnecessarily occupying the ground antennas. The system that remained in control was not like the computers we carry in our pockets. The command and data management system is supported by a 12MHz Mongoose V processorprotected against radiation and designed to resist rather than run. This component distributes orders among the subsystems and executes routines that allow the probe to react without immediate intervention. Upon certain failures, the ship can initiate a recovery, switch to backup components, or send a request for help. At that distance, autonomy is not an added function, but a condition for survival. The probe also could not send each measurement at the time it was obtained. His observations were stored in two 8 GB solid state drivesa main one and a backup one, while the computer organized and compressed them for later transmission. Seen from our current devices, that memory is almost insignificant; in deep space, forces you to manage each data carefully. The team had to prioritize and wait until the vehicle could point correctly toward our planet. Discovering something was only the first part: we still had to get it to us. A space probe designed to last The next problem was keeping alive a machine that was traveling further and further away from the source of energy that illuminates our planet. New Horizons does not rely on solar panels, but rather a radioisotope thermoelectric generator that uses the heat released by the decay of plutonium-238 to produce electricity. The power it delivers slowly decreases over the years, so each instrument turned on implies a decision. On the other hand, the insulating layers retain the heat generated by the electronics themselves, while automatic heaters intervene when this protection is not enough. After visiting Pluto and Arrokoth, New Horizons continues to move outwards from the Solar System Finding us from the far reaches of the Solar System requires much more than turning on a transmitter. The spacecraft observes the stars and compares what it sees with a catalog stored on board to determine where it is facing. Its small thrusters then make the necessary adjustments to align the main antenna with the Earth. That antenna cannot move independentlyso the entire vehicle must be placed in the correct direction before starting unloading. Only then can the stored data begin a nearly nine-hour journey to us. The paradox of that hibernation was that New Horizons was still doing science. Although the controllers were not sending commands or downloading information, three instruments remained active to study the particles, plasma and dust surrounding the probe. SWAP, PEPSSI and accountant Venetia Burney continued to take measurements and retain them for when regular communication could resume. The mission had reduced much of its activity, but not its ability to observe: even during the longest sleep in its history, outer space continued to pass through its sensors. A ship launched two decades ago does not age like one of our devices: no one can bring it back, change a part, or connect it to a more powerful energy source. What the team can do is teach you how to better manage what you still have. Before its final sleep, New Horizons received a crash protection update to address the gradual drop in power and increased communication delays. Her awakening was not, therefore, an isolated trick, but the result of twenty years of learning to keep her alive from a distance. Images | NASA | In Xataka | NASA is looking for four people who want to live a year on Mars without leaving Earth