spacetoday.net: FUSE completes "brain transplant" to keep spacecraft operating

Posted: Tue, Jul 22, 2003, 10:48 AM ET (1448 GMT)
FUSE spacecraft illustration

Engineers have successfully completed a software upload to NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) spacecraft to preemptively deal with possible problems with the spacecraft's gyroscopes. The software upload, likened to a "brain transplant", will allow the spacecraft to continue operating should gyroscopes on the spacecraft fail. The software will use data from the spacecraft's fine error sensor, a small camera, to determine where the spacecraft is pointing should the gyros fail. The first of six gyros on FUSE unexpectedly failed on May 31, 2001, providing the impetus for the new software. FUSE, launched in June 1999, has already been salvaged once when two of its four reaction wheels, also part of the spacecraft’s guidance system, failed in December 2001. Engineers brought FUSE back online in early 2002 by programming the spacecraft to use magnetic torquer rods in place of the wheels.