Super Moon Eclipse NASA worries. (Richard Heathcote / Getty Images)
This is a total lunar eclipse (when the Moon is completely in shadow because the earth comes between it and the Sun) which also coincides with a superluna, review BBC.
A superluna occurs when the full or new moon is at its closest point to Earth.
The last time this strange positioning of the three heavenly bodies was held in 1982 and the next will not occur until 2033.
But while for astronomy lovers this show -in which the moon becomes of one reddish color can be just beautiful or exciting for NASA experts is a small headache.
Why? Because they fear that lack sunlight energy can leave without one of its most important spacecraft: the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO, for its acronym in English), whose mission is to explore our natural satellite.
“There are two things that happen during an eclipse: it starts getting cold and no sun to charge the batteries,” he told the BBC Noah Petro, a scientist at the space agency
<. p> The total eclipse will last more than an hour and “the ship will run out of direct sunlight for about three hours.”
Similar technologies prior showed difficulties during eclipses, but the LRO was designed specifically with this in mind.
As the probe recharge their batteries with solar energy during the eclipse NASA should take a number of precautions. . “It Preheat the ship and then turn off the instrument to keep it safe”
“It’s like a phone when I get an alert that tells me that I still have 20% battery can turn off the wifi or certain applications that are still open in the background, “said Noah.
” We anticipate that everything will happen smoothly during the eclipse and we will recover from smooth. We’ll be ready for it and ready to resolve what happens. “
” We will keep an eye on the battery level and ready to react if something does not go according to plan. We will do everything possible for the probe to go through the time of the eclipse and exit in good shape, “he added the expert.
Meanwhile Dawn Myers, the Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA, said in a statement: “It’s always stressful when the eclipse is coming, but follow the same procedures and have not had any problems”
Original article here
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