High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI) damaged during test at JPL

There was a shaker table mishap at JPL today. According to our sources there was a GSFC satellite (HESSI – High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager) – in the unit at the time. Engineers were performing a test and lost control resulting in damage to the satellite.

HESSI is scheduled to be launched in July 2000 as part of NASA’s Small Explorer Program. HESSI’s primary mission is to explore the basic physics of particle acceleration and energy release in solar flares. According to NASA its primary observations would involve “simultaneous, high resolution imaging and spectroscopy of solar flares from 3 keV X-rays to 20 MeV gamma rays with high time resolution”. The HESSI project is managed by the Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

° HESSI Home Page, NASA GSFC

° HESSI Fact Sheet