NASA gives IXPE observatory the Ctrl-Alt-Del treatment to make it talk sense

NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) space observatory has had a problem, prompting engineers on the ground to hit the reset button. It's a technique familiar to many engineers when faced with misbehaving hardware and one that IXPE's team has had to use on a previous occasion. While out in low Earth orbit, IXPE …

[Eclectic Man]

Here's hoping the reset works. Although I must be getting old because the idea of a $188million mission being "relatively cheap" seems strange to me.

[I ain't Spartacus]

Eclectic Man,

It's only a few years ago that getting 20 tonnes to low Earth orbit would cost you $100 million or more. It's probably a third of that now with SpaceX. And that's before you've done R&D on the satellite design, then built at least 2 copies and of course paid staff to operate it for 5 years. I'm guessing NASA don't use insurance, as they launch so many payloads that it's cheaper to have to replace one every so often - though they may have an internal insurance budget which each mission has to pay into.

[Hurn]

5 year mission

"XPoSat ... launched on a five-year mission"

To boldly, ah, look, where, err, few have looked before...

[Andy The Hat]

Collaboration from the Italian Space Agency ...

Having fought with Italian electricals, why am I not surprised to see spurious electrolical sognils ...?

[trindflo]

Reset isn't a built in command?

If the spacecraft processes commands, I'm a little surprised nobody thought 'reset' should be one of those commands prior to 2023. From the article it sounds like a trick is used to force the reset behavior.

[Anonymous Coward]

Is IXPE experiencing "non-deterministic behavior"

Is IXPE experiencing "non-deterministic behavior". As in unforeseen interaction between the software and ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits) ?

“The Gas Pixel Detector (GPD) proposes a solution based on the usage of an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)”