Galileo satellites experiencing multiple clock failures

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38664225

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Galileo satellites experiencing multiple clock failures[/font]

By Jonathan Amos
BBC Science Correspondent

18 January 2017

[font size=4]The onboard atomic clocks that drive the satellite-navigation signals on Europe's Galileo network have been failing at an alarming rate.[/font]

[font size=3]Across the 18 satellites now in orbit, nine clocks have stopped operating.

Three are traditional rubidium devices; six are the more precise hydrogen maser instruments that were designed to give Galileo superior performance to the American GPS network.

…

Each Galileo satellite carries two rubidium and two hydrogen maser clocks. The multiple installation enables a satellite to keep working after an initial failure.

…[/font][/font]

[cos dem]

1. Wow, that is not good.

I know the hydrogen masers were a bit of an experiment, but space-based rubidiums are pretty ordinary technology these days.

I got to see a (US) manufacturer of rubidium oscillators. It is amazingly low tech. It is a very precise business, but a lot of the work is done by hand (hand-blown glass, for example).

Our GPS satellites have been lasting far longer than their design lifetime, to the point where they've started taking older ones offline, because the newer ones need to get launched to keep the accuracy up. Most GPS satellites operate on Rb.

[underpants]

2. Thanks Trump. They reset to 70 years ago.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. "Traditional" rubidium devices -- now, there's an interesting phrase you don't hear every day. nt

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. You know

The kind your grandfather used to keep on the mantle…