Astronomers have discovered the location of the missing Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Radio contact with the satellite - $1 billion joint between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA - was lost on June 25 when a programming error caused the craft to spin out of control. Earlier this week ground- based radio telescopes found the spacecraft near its original position, a potentially important step in the possible recovery of direct communications with the satellite. SOHO has provided unprecedented observations of the Sun from an orbit that takes it over both solar poles.
Attempts to locate the satellite with NASA’s Deep Space Network had been unsuccessful. However, by bouncing radio waves from the Arecibo observatory in Puerto Rico off the satellite, and detecting the reflections on a 70 meter radio telescope in Goldstone, California, astronomers have been able to establish SOHO’s position. The signals indicate that the craft is still travelling in its original orbit but rotating at roughly one revolution per minute. However its solar panels are not pointing towards the Sun, which has left SOHO without power.
Engineers expect the solar panels to rotate slowly towards the Sun and hope that by September they will be generating enough power to make communication with the satellite possible. Some of the omens are good. In 1991 ESA recovered a satellite called Olympus under similar circumstances.
