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Article: The long arm of the celestial repairman.(Solar and Heliospheric Observatory to be repaired in space)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- October 17, 1998
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The recent mending of a broken spacecraft that was meant to study the sun is only the latest in a line of successful long-distance resuscitations
IF THE prospect of fixing your own car or television seems daunting, imagine trying to rectify a faulty space probe as it hurtles through the vacuum, millions of kilometres away. Yet over the years, as various spacecraft have explored the inner and outer reaches of the solar system-and often gone wrong in the process-ingenious and resourceful engineers on earth have found ways of doing just that.
The latest triumph of these celestial mechanics is the revival of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a ...