Security News > 2020 > April > ESA missions back doing science after precautionary pandemic plug pull: We talk to space boffins about Mars Express emergency command line

ESA's mission operations centre in Germany has got back to doing interplanetary science after a short stand-down due to COVID-19.

At least as normal as operations get for Cluster, now over 20 years into a two-year mission, and the veteran Mars Express spacecraft.

For Mars Express "Safe Mode" could have ended up being anything but, as Operations Manager James Godfrey explained to The Register.

It eventually came up with a command line that would keep the spacecraft safe for three weeks, although space constraints meant that commands to operate the science instruments had to be dropped in favour of maximising the time MEX could run unattended.

That very morning, the team had sent up the usual week's worth of science commands, meaning the spacecraft was safe until the 27th. "Over the next few days," Godfrey told us, "The emergency plan, starting when the science commands would run out, was sent to the spacecraft. These would keep the spacecraft safe until 18 April even if the spacecraft were left completely unattended."

News URL

https://go.theregister.co.uk/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/03/esa_missions_resume/