Scientists have finally been able to contact the out-of-control Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), which went missing in June. After receiving sporadic information from the spacecraft, engineers managed to send radio commands to divert power from the solar array to SOHO's on-board batteries. The craft had previously been drained of power when its arrays had moved away from the Sun. After the batteries had been recharged, NASA officials persuaded the craft to send details of its system status. The next obstacle in the craft's recovery will be to thaw out SOHO's frozen fuel tanks.
“This is the best news I’ve heard since we lost contact with SOHO” says Roger Bonnet, ESA’s director of science. “We should just hope that the damage sustained by SOHO’s enforced period of deep freeze does not affect the scientific payload too much.”
SOHO is a $1 billion joint venture between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA to observe the Sun in unprecedented detail. Scientists were hoping to extend SOHO’s life until 2003 to cover an upcoming period of maximum solar activity. However, contact with the craft was lost on June 25 when a programming error caused the craft to spin out of control.
