Non-Terrestrial SOTA Operations

Equipment
21

IIRC, OSCAR7 batteries went short circuit thus killing the satellite. One day (8+ years back maybe) the short in the battery went open circuit. Suddenly the satellite was able to work when in sunlight. So as it goes into eclipse it starts FMing followed by switching off then when it comes out of eclipse the solar cells start producing power and it randomly select a mode and starts working until the next eclipse when the cycle repeats.

Of course, Voyagers 1&2 are the ultimate in modern engineering IMHO.

1 Like
22

I know about the battery problem and why it is only working when it is in sunlight. I just think that a bit of amateur technology that is still working after about 40 years in space without a tuneup, oil change, or new slugs in the final whatsinames, etc, is pretty good going. I mainly used it on mode A because that’s what I had working on Oscar 6. But I did use mode B a few times.