Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: Cristian Vladescu on 08/09/2011 23:30:04

Title: How did they align the orientation of probe B?
Post by: Cristian Vladescu on 08/09/2011 23:30:04

Cristian Vladescu  asked the Naked Scientists:
   Hello,

I would like to ask something about Probe B that Ms. Carolin Crawford talked about in the last show (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/astronomy).

When NASA launch into orbit Probe B, they probably gave it a rotation on it's own axis against the rotation of the orbit around the Earth, so that the telescope and gyroscope on board would point to a fix point in the sky. How they did that with such a high precision that the satellite wouldn't lose it's orientation over long period of time ? Or did they made small in orbit adjustments from time to time? But wouldn't that affect the result of the experiment?

Thank you!
What do you think?