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Space & Planetary Science

ARC PAO Drags Their Feet on LADEE Problems

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
September 11, 2013
Filed under ,

Keith’s 3:10 pm EDT note: LADEE slipped into safe mode again yesterday morning when its star trackers experienced an alignment error. This error has been fixed and the spacecraft is expected to exit safe mode today and proceed normally with the mission.
Keith’s 5:16 pm EDT update: I just got this baffling update from ARC PAO 4 hours after I asked for a statement (they have been sitting on this for 3 hours): “On Sept. 10 around 7 a.m. Pacific Time, the spacecraft went into safe mode due to an alignment error between the two star tracker camera heads affecting the rate estimator when the sun occludes one of the cameras. We corrected that and came out of safe mode this morning, Sept. 11, to resume normal operations. To keep the media and public informed about the spacecraft status, NASA will issue weekly Project Manager Updates written by Dr. Butler Hine. The incident that occurred Sept. 10 and was corrected Sept. 11 will be in the next Project Manager Update.”
Why isn’t @NASALADEE tweeting about this? It happened more than 24 hours ago. Why isn’t the official NASA LADEE website being updated with this information? Why is NASA ARC PAO waiting for a “weekly project manager update” to release this information to the public? What else are they not releasing?
Keith’s 7:29 pm EDT update: according to this tweet: @worden: After two not unexpected glitches since launch @NASALADEE just demonstrated main propulsion system.
Keith’s 9:00 pm EDT update: @NASALADEE only tweeted about this news 36 hours after the fact. It must be so hard at NASA these days to find the right 140 characters …

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

2 responses to “ARC PAO Drags Their Feet on LADEE Problems”

  1. Hondo Lane says:
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    I’m confused. A small technical team, busy working real issues and fending off declining budgets and looming sequester cuts, owes you near real-time status on spacecraft glitches that don’t relate to the science mission, via EPO tools (i.e. Twitter)?

    • kcowing says:
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      NASA PAO had this information for many hours and sat on it despite media requests. They only released it after I confirmed this through other sources. Their original plan was to wait several days.