Galileo Status Report - August 26, 1996
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
The Galileo spacecraft put itself into a safe mode Saturday, project team members report.
Preliminary indications are that the safing event took place when processing time allocation was exceeded in a central computer processor on Galileo. The fault occurred in one of two fully redundant onboard computers; in response to the event, the spacecraft switched to the backup computer, which is running essential engineering functions while Galileo is in safe mode. Safing takes place as a result of automatic, onboard fault protection procedures designed to protect the spacecraft in case of anomalies.
At the time Galileo entered safe mode, it was in the process of transmitting to Earth a few residual pieces of data stored on its onboard tape recorder from its flyby of Jupiter's moon Ganymede in June.
Project engineers expect to have the spacecraft restored to its normal operating mode by Sunday, September 1. At that time Galileo will be preparing for its second flyby of Jupiter's moon Ganymede on September 6.