NASA reconnects with Sun-orbiting spacecraft

New Scientist : After two years of radio silence, NASA has announced that it has successfully reestablished contact with STEREO-B, one of a pair of spacecraft that have been orbiting the Sun since 2006. The mission of the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) has been the study of the Sun’s coronal mass ejections. The two spacecraft were so successful initially that the mission got extended several times. In 2014, however, as the spacecraft were about to pass to the far side of the Sun, NASA controllers lost contact with STEREO-B during a planned test of its computer reboot system. It is thought that the probe started spinning out of control, much like what happened to Japan’s Hitomi spacecraft . Although NASA has now managed to make contact with STEREO-B, scientists do not yet know whether the spacecraft will be able to resume normal operations.