NOT-2-SMART-1 due to make crash landing
Created | Updated Sep 5, 2006
Astronomers around the world are expecting the imminent demise of the British built space probe NOT-2-SMART-1 in the next few days. NOT-2-SMART-1 was launched in a blaze of publicity in 1997, having succeeded from the troubled MAJOR-1 mission (itself a less zealous offshoot of the 1980's IRON-LADY project). "It's amazing how long it's lasted", says John Beggs, Astronomer with the Royal Observatory. "It's was originally specified to last just 4 years before being replaced by a far cheaper device" he says, referring to the CHANCELLOR-G11 mission, which is still in mothballs.
The project has not been without its difficulties. "In recent years, pieces have continued to drop off it", says Beggs. In 2003, the Cooke Spectrometer and the Short Activator stopped working when the probe began its foray into the notorious Iraqi asteroid field, followed a few months later by an overload of the Campbell-A high-gain transmitter. In 2005 the Mandelson and Blunkett control systems were declared defunct, and earlier this year the Clarke heat-shield failed after a particularly heavy particle barrage. The Prescott backup-device has behaved very erratically in the past few years, but it continues to hang on.
In recent years, the probe was part of a "puppydogging" initiative with an American space-module, the YEE-HAW-1. This entailed synchronising completely with the US device on a master-slave basis. "Every signal sent to the American probe were replicated exactly by the British one, no matter how distorted", says Beggs. "It was a great success for the Americans, but the British probe is showing increasing signs of premature aging".
Some experts believe that the space-probe has started to spiral out of control in the past year. "The whole system has been drifting from crisis to crisis in the last few months", says Greg Davies of the British Astronomy Guild. "Very little really useful work has actually been done". A conference of astronomers later this month could seal the probe's fate. "We might even consider dropping it completely from the list of official probes", says Davies.
The project has not been without its difficulties. "In recent years, pieces have continued to drop off it", says Beggs. In 2003, the Cooke Spectrometer and the Short Activator stopped working when the probe began its foray into the notorious Iraqi asteroid field, followed a few months later by an overload of the Campbell-A high-gain transmitter. In 2005 the Mandelson and Blunkett control systems were declared defunct, and earlier this year the Clarke heat-shield failed after a particularly heavy particle barrage. The Prescott backup-device has behaved very erratically in the past few years, but it continues to hang on.
In recent years, the probe was part of a "puppydogging" initiative with an American space-module, the YEE-HAW-1. This entailed synchronising completely with the US device on a master-slave basis. "Every signal sent to the American probe were replicated exactly by the British one, no matter how distorted", says Beggs. "It was a great success for the Americans, but the British probe is showing increasing signs of premature aging".
Some experts believe that the space-probe has started to spiral out of control in the past year. "The whole system has been drifting from crisis to crisis in the last few months", says Greg Davies of the British Astronomy Guild. "Very little really useful work has actually been done". A conference of astronomers later this month could seal the probe's fate. "We might even consider dropping it completely from the list of official probes", says Davies.
