Spacecraft to get out of solar eclipse 2015 unharmed
MOSCOW. Jan 16 (Interfax-AVN) - Geostationary satellites can survive one of the longest solar eclipses of the upcoming period, which may deprive them of solar energy for more than three hours.
"Let us figure out what a shadow is. It means the absence of energy and coldness. The satellite cannot turn off completely; something has to be working in it. It needs to be heated. This is why the battery capacity is calculated," head of the space plasma physics department at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Anatoly Petrukovich told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
"Research satellites that we are working with have endured a several-hour period in shadow. So, a three-hour period is nothing "criminal". A special program will be activated, every unnecessary instrument will turn off and the necessary instruments will shift to a regime of minimal energy consumption," he said.
Moreover, solar eclipses are forecasted for thousands years in advance and there is a schedule for each spacecraft to show when it will pass through a shadow, the scientist explained. "A satellite passing through the Earth's shadow is a totally normal phenomenon. Technical specifications indicate that the satellite must endure a shadow for a certain period of time. Naturally, the satellite has functions allowing it to survive this shadow," Petrukovich said.
A NPO Lavochkin worker told a specialized edition earlier that certain geostationary satellites might encounter problems on October 13, 2015 because the Moon will eclipse the Sun for over three hours. The specialist said he feared that satellite batteries might run flat in such a lengthy eclipse.