Aqua Experiences Problems: NASA Pulls Status Reports Offline

Last week, during checkout, the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) aboard the Aqua spacecraft experienced problems resulting in its shutdown. NASA has continued to have problems getting the instrument to operate normally.

Aqua is a $952 million mission operated as a joint project by NASA, Japan, and Brazil. The spacecraft’s mission is to measure and analyze Earth’s water cycle. Aqua is the sister satellite to NASA’s Terra spacecraft, launched in December 1999. The AMSR-E instrument was provided by Japan’s National Space Development Agency (NASDA).

Problems with the AMSR-E were first reported on 16 May 2002. Problems worsened over the 17-20 May period .

In the 23-24 May report it is noted that “The AMSR-E Signal Processor for the Sensor Unit (SPS) switched off shortly after being commanded to Normal (Science) mode. Initial commands to the SPS have been unsuccessful. The investigation is currently on-going.”

The instrument has been offline for about a week now.

On 4 June 2002 NASA suddenly, and without any explanation, removed all status reports describing the spacecraft’s orbital checkout and the description of the problems encountered with AMSR-E. All of the reports are online at SpaceRef and are listed below.

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