30 years and still sunbathing: SOHO probe continues work as a space weatherman

SOHO, a joint ESA and NASA mission, is still going strong after almost thirty years since launch and at this point the craft is an essential part of space infrastructure. SOHO mission manager Luis Sánchez Duarte describes the spacecraft as being far from a "spring chicken," having dedicated decades to studying the Sun. "It …

[Doctor Syntax]

The 1990s are 30 years ago already? What happened?

SOHO's design life was for two years, with enough consumables on board for another four years. Engineers have managed to eke this out to 28 years and counting.

You can imagine the pitch: "Yes, the design life is only a couple of years. That design fuel load is just a x2 safety factor.. We've no expectation of actually using it all. Trust us."

[b0llchit]

Re: The 1990s are 30 years ago already? What happened?

This design was from before planned obsolescence became a major all encompassing thing and mandates to save a few cents on a Gigadollar project were not acceptable. Designers of that period did not compromise on reliability and added more reliability just to be sure. And then, this is space stuff. It is rocket science.

Space is a harsh mistress and anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Therefore, plan ahead. Plan far, far ahead. And then add some extra, just to be sure. In the end, you get exactly what you paid for :-)

[amanfromMars 1]

Just like IT is in the GeoPolitical Space Field ... After the Quantum AI Communications Leap Jump

Never Really a Dull Moment 4Nothing2See.

Four hour gaps between information transmissions allows for all manner of unknown and unpredictable mission creeps ...... Stellar ACTivating Surprises ....... which may or may not be SOHO partnership applicable and joint ESA and NASA mission friendly.

[Gene Cash]

"reaction wheels are ... very well understood"

Hm. They have still managed to surprise people. One of the things discovered a while back is that the wheel was generating static electricity and getting charged up, then discharging with sparks through the rolling elements (ball/roller bearings) which needless to say was not good for them. This was the mechanism in a lot of sudden unexpected on-orbit failures.

[Joe Gurman]

30 years? Perhaps it's not base 10?

SOHO was launched on 2nd December, 1995, which makes the spacecraft's operational lifetime just over 28 years.

NOAA does not fund and never has funded any part of the SOHO mission. All the funding for operations comes from NASA, with program management support provided by ESA. There was a moment about a decade ago when NOAA seriously considered providing some funding to provide some redundancy in the provision of near real-time coronagraph images from SOHO and STEREO instruments, but that was never approved at higher levels of NOAA management.

[Jou (Mxyzptlk)]

Re: 30 years? Perhaps it's not base 10?

Ah, thank you. That part irked me about the article. Headline saying "30 years", but text says "Engineers have managed to eke this out to 28 years and counting", so I was not sure whether the headline is wrong, or the grammar should have been "eke this out toby 28 years".

[Christoph]

This stuff is critically important. If there's another Carrington Event we need advance warning or we are in very deep trouble.

[Paul Crawford]

Even with warning we are still in deep trouble.

I would like to think the power grids have some plans to safe-fail the network and black-start if needed, but sadly I might be hopelessly optimistic about engineering being important enough to listen to. And fund.

[Jellied Eel]

What to do in the event of a stellar emergency

I would like to think the power grids have some plans to safe-fail the network and black-start if needed, but sadly I might be hopelessly optimistic about engineering being important enough to listen to. And fund.

There are plans. In the UK (and I imagine elsewhere) there are regular CNI (Critical National Infrastructure) reviews to cover events like this. A repeat of the Carrington Event is a hot topic because it's happened before, so it may happen again. So those cover everything from probability of the Sun farting in our general direction, and possible warning signs it's about to let rip. So instruments like SOHO help with that. Then they get parcelled off into work packages for power, all the utilities, police, NHS etc etc to come up with their own plans. Which generally fall under major incident type stuff. So extended power outages, disruption to food & fuel supplies, communications and potential for a bunch of sensitive stuff to get zapped.

They're kinda fun because of all the interdependencies in modern life, ie SCADA to control power, water, gas networks etc might not work if the communications network(s) have just been zapped. And one of the biggest challenges is stockpiling spares for an event like this, especialy when it would impact on a very large area. Especially when the lead times on a lot of very big ticket items are normally months, and that assumes a functioning factory.

Hence why stuff like SOHO is so important to try and get as much warning as possible, and protect or isolate as much kit as possible.

[Pascal Monett]

Re: There are plans

I'm sure there are. Planning doesn't cost much.

But when those plans include replacing a bunch of stuff by a bunch of other, more solar-flare-resistant stuff that costs x times more, I'm guessing that those plans are still at the discussion phase.

Because you need to show me one, just one, example of some for-profit company that spent money to prevent a problem that might happen next century.

They don't do that. They spend money on shit that happened and prevents them from making more money. That's how it works.

[Jellied Eel]

Re: There are plans

Because you need to show me one, just one, example of some for-profit company that spent money to prevent a problem that might happen next century.

But it's already happened-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm

The variations in the Earth's magnetic field also tripped circuit breakers on Hydro-Québec's power grid. The utility's very long transmission lines and the fact that most of Quebec sits on a large rock shield prevented current flowing through the earth, finding a less resistant path along the 735 kV power lines...

...The power failure lasted nine hours and forced the company to implement various mitigation strategies, including raising the trip level, installing series compensation on ultra high voltage lines and upgrading various monitoring and operational procedures. Other utilities in North America and Northern Europe and elsewhere implemented programs to reduce the risks associated with geomagnetically induced currents (GICs).

Or..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastille_Day_solar_storm

Because even the Sun hates the French. Or-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Halloween_solar_storms

Twelve transformers in South Africa were disabled and had to be replaced, despite the country's low geomagnetic latitude... The SOHO satellite failed temporarily and the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) was damaged by the solar activity

So it's a known risk, and it's possible to mitigate it. My stuff, ie telecomms is less vulnerable mainly because we're rapidly moving away from long wires and to fibre. Just don't touch the order or locator wires during a big magnetic storm. GICs also happen at a smaller scale, eg traction current from being close to an underground or electric train line. Plus every decent bit of kit has to meet noise standards, both radiating and being subject to external noise interference.

But that can also be fun. Can't remember the company but went to a demo in a power station with Cisco vs an industrial Ethernet switch. Staff flipped a big breaker, and the Cisco started violating workplace smoking regulations. So kit that can survive a good EMP'ing already exists, and is hopefully in use where that's a risk.

[amanfromMars 1]

Re: What NOT to do in the event of a stellar emergency @Jellied Eel

Most likely, like all those other old times in past spaces attending to and dealing with all manner of unknown and unpredictable mission creeps ...... Stellar ACTivating Surprises .... is sound friendly advice and sensitive information for humans probably going to be again all too often wilfully ignored and even dismissed as subversive and possibly coercive, allowing for Advanced Cyber Threats and Treats you are unable to believe readily available whenever they are IntelAIgently Designed and made impossible for you to adequately fully comprehend and try to reverse engineer for either failsafe defence or desperate attack purposes.

And what do you think are the chances of such either being quickly classified and recognised as not just any random type black swan event ....... https://www.zerohedge.com/political/cbs-news-reporter-makes-dark-prediction-black-swan-event-2024 ...... but much more a Carrington type Alien Intervention Event ...... or crazily ignored with one and/or all expecting such matters to go quietly away and fade to black.

Say no more, Squire. Know what I mean. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink :-) That old heads buried in the sand and looking for a puckered arse position/situation/reality.

[Trigonoceps occipitalis]

The greatest test of an engineer is not his technical ingenuity but his ability to persuade those in power who do not want to be persuaded and convince those for whom the evidence of their own eyes is anything but convincing.

Extract from "Plain Words" in The Engineer 2nd October 1959

[Jou (Mxyzptlk)]

Therefore prepare yourself to be independent of the grid. If you get the warning just throw the switch, and then unplug/unscrew with a meter or more air gap between you and the grid. Though you might be better of keeping the ground connection, depending on the regulations how to do electricity in your part of the world...

[Spherical Cow]

Amazing stuff!

When the time does eventually come, what is the end-of-life plan? Just let it drift? Nudge it away from L1 and then let it drift?

Pint for the engineers --->