The following message has been forwarded to all registered PO.DAAC users on behalf of the RapidScat Project:
Currently the RapidScat mission is unable to process the science data
being downlinked from the instrument.
All other instrument status are normal including commanding, no alarms have
been observed, temperatures are normal, and there are no observed
faults. This situation began last Friday evening (August 14 08:01:59
PDT; DOY 227 03:01:59 UTC). At that point in time, the
echo power signal in the receiver dropped by approximately 20db and the
current increased by approximately .20 mA in the SES (Scatterometer
Electronics Subsystem). There have been no observed ISS attitude or
power related issues noted, but the operations team will continue to
investigate with the ISS team to see if any other ISS activities were
coincident.
As part of the investigation so far we
have recycled the instrument, by removing power, and
reactivated using our our normal procedures. However this did not restore
normal science data collection. Currently, the operations team is
in the process of collecting diagnostic data on the instrument through a
variety of Receive-only, Calibration, and Wind Observation mode
configurations to better understand what has happened, and to assess the
quality of the low-power signal being received. A fishbone
diagram of potential causes is being developed.
Glen Havens
RapidScat Project/Mission Manager
Jet Propulsion Laboratory