Sep. 8, 2010 ESA's GOCE gravity mission has recovered from a
glitch that prevented the satellite from sending its flow of
scientific data to the ground. News of the recovery comes
earlier than expected, thanks to the fervent efforts of a team
of experts. The recovery follows a serious communications
malfunction on 8 July, when the Gravity field and steady-state
Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite suddenly failed to
downlink scientific data to its receiving stations. Extensive
investigations by experts from ESA and industry revealed that
the issue was almost certainly related to a communication link
between the processor module and the telemetry modules of the
main computer. These telemetry modules are situated between the
processor board and the transmitters, forming a vital part of
the onboard data handling and communications system. Recovery
from the situation came after software patches gained access to
troubleshooting information via the slow trickle of data that
was still reaching the GOCE ground