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News briefs: February 23-24
Posted: Mon, Feb 25, 2002, 8:01 AM ET (1301 GMT)
- Engineers have restored some control to NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) spacecraft, Astronomy.com reported Friday. FUSE had stopped scientific observations in December when two of its four control wheels failed, preventing the spacecraft from pointing accurately. While the wheels remain offline, controllers have managed to use magnetic torquer bars to provide some control, allowing some limited observations to resume.
- President Bush has nominated three Air Force generals in space-related commands for promotion, Space News reported. Craig Cooning, vice commander of Air Force Space and Missile Systems; Claude Kehler, commander of the 21st Space Wing; and Michael Gould, commander of the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center would all be promoted from brigadier to major general.
- NASA announced Friday that data from its Quikscat spacecraft will now be incorporated into forecast data in the US and Europe. Quikscat was launched in 1999 with an experiment designed to measure wind speed and direction near the ocean surface. Meteorologists have found that Quikscat data improves forecasts of "extreme wind events" such as hurricanes, as well as longer-term studies of phenomena such as El Nino.
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