Does this make anyone else a little bit sad?

[Christopher S.]

I don't mean, sadness towards general loss of data or inconvenience it may cause some people. I mean sad that ACE appears to be at Death's Door when it encounters difficulties like this.

[Sam Warfel]

Especially sad when I think back to DSCOVR becoming unavailable while waiting for a highly anticipated CME last month, and having to rely on sketchy data from ACE instead.

It'd be sad to lose an L1 backup.
Are there any other spacecraft transmitting solar wind and EMF data from L1?

Edited November 19, 2021 by Orneno

[Vancanneyt Sander]

Everyone forgets that we still have SOHO that measures solar wind (but not IMF). In the time (SC23) when ACE was unavailable we could fall back to the SOHO data (but it isn’t updated reliably especially during the keyhole periods). 
http://umtof.umd.edu/pm/

ps. The dog that’s asleep on that page is awake when it detects a CME impact 😉

[Archmonoth]

16 hours ago, Christopher S. said:

I don't mean, sadness towards general loss of data or inconvenience it may cause some people. I mean sad that ACE appears to be at Death's Door when it encounters difficulties like this.

 

Oh yes, quite unfortunate. I think many of the methods of observing space weather or satellite data might not be accessible in the future. 

Here is a video by Kurzgesagt expressing the issue. 

 

 

I don't think the issue is doomed or fated. I see it as another engineering puzzle, requiring education on the systems we inhabit, and awareness of the shadow of society. 

 

[Vancanneyt Sander]

Besides DSCOVR STEREO and SDO, we have still a few very old satellites up there. SOHO was launched in 1995, ACE two years later. SOHO already had a lot of issues (for example the keyhole periods and ccd bakeouts) and we still haven’t got a backup for the LASCO instrument (coronagraph). So I’m sure SOHO won’t last long anymore. We still have to wait at least till 2024 for a descent coronagraph replacement (SWFO-L1 mission). 

PS: the follow up for DSCOVR is being prepared as well. It will be on board the SWFO-L1 satellite as well! Together with a magnetometer and X-ray sensor 

[Sam Warfel]

3 hours ago, Vancanneyt Sander said:

Besides DSCOVR STEREO and SDO, we have still a few very old satellites up there. SOHO was launched in 1995, ACE two years later. SOHO already had a lot of issues (for example the keyhole periods and ccd bakeouts) and we still haven’t got a backup for the LASCO instrument (coronagraph). So I’m sure SOHO won’t last long anymore. We still have to wait at least till 2024 for a descent coronagraph replacement (SWFO-L1 mission). 

PS: the follow up for DSCOVR is being prepared as well. It will be on board the SWFO-L1 satellite as well! Together with a magnetometer and X-ray sensor 

I’m surprised SOHO is old, it’s Coronograph images look super modern and state-of-the-art next to, say, STEREO

[Christopher S.]

I think everyone would appreciate those old battleships taking their retirement - so long as there's a replacement. That's what I find sad, in a few layers. We kinda don't have the push globally to put a buncha funding in such programs that would help to directly replace them in their current roles. However, I do know from someone personally that some cool stuff is starting to be planned in high places. Stay tuned for, like, 3 years when it gets announced as some completely different version of the thing it is now.

[Sam Warfel]

Space station at L1 when????

(joke), but one can dream of such a future.

Edited November 20, 2021 by Orneno

[Compuw22c]

It's alive, it's a li-hi-hive!  (Hopefully it lasts)

[Space pro]

Even India is also sending satellite for corona graphing to L1 in 2022