Having Lost Contact, NASA Successfully Connected With TRACERS Satellite

NASA managed to connect with the TRACERS satellite (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA NASA announced its success in restoring contact with one of the TRACERS satellites. In fact, this satellite has not been connected since its launch in July.

TRACERS, abbreviation to the Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electronic Reconnaissance Reconnaissance Reconnaissance Satellite, consists of two identical satellites called SV1 and SV2. The SV2 satellite successfully completed the post-launch commissioning process without any problems.

However, the SV1 satellite has been facing power problems since two days after its launch. This problem was found in the SV1 power subsystem, causing communication to become disconnected. The recovery process was hampered due to a lack of sunlight.

In early August, NASA reported that the satellite could only operate when its solar panels were exposed to sunlight. Therefore, the mission team decided to try to restore communication by the end of August.

At that time, the position of the SV1 solar panels was more parallel to the sun. Fortunately, this effort paid off, although the technical details were not explained in detail. On September 11, NASA finally confirmed this success.

For now, the mission team is 'trying to restore the spacecraft and build scientific operations'. If this satellite is successfully restored, the two TRACERS will begin to study how the solar wind interacts with Earth's magnetic field.

Apart from TRACERS, the same Falcon 9 rocket mission also carries several other small satellites. One of them is Athens EPIC. This satellite is a collaboration between NASA, the US Space Force, and the National Ocean and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA).

Just like SV1, Athens EPIC has also had problems since its launch. NASA reports that this satellite never sends a signal after launch. This makes it difficult for controllers to identify and control the spacecraft.

In a separate statement, NASA confirmed that they are also trying to restore communication with Athens EPIC. They will determine the cause of the initial failure in signal acquisition.