keeping spacecraft on after funding cuts why do spacecraft have to be shut off after funding cuts for example why couldn t magellan just be told to go into a safe mode and stay bobbing about venus in a low power use mode and if maybe in a few years if funding gets restored after the economy gets better hopefully it could be turned on again for that matter why exactly were the apollo lunar experiments turned off rather than just safed was it political i e as along as they could be used someone would keep bugging congress for funds turning them off keeps them pesky scientists out of the bureaucrat s hair i ve heard the argument that an active but uncontrolled spacecraft causes radio noise i find that hard to believe that this could be a problem in a properly designed safe mode this safe mode could be a program routine which causes the spacecraft to go to least fuel using orientation and once a week month year whatever attempts a signal lock on earth at that time if funding has been restored the mission can continue if no signal is recieved the spacecraft goes back to the safe mode for another time period as we would know when the spacecraft is going to try to contact earth we could be prepared if necessary as another a spacecraft could do at the attempted contact is beam stored data towards earth if someone can receive it great if not so it s lost and no big deal by making the time and signal location generally known perhaps someone in the world might be able and willing to intercept the data even if they re not willing to contact the spacecraft i see this as being particularly useful for spacecraft which could have an otherwise long life and are in or are going to places which are otherwise unaccessible jupiter saturn orbit exiting the solar system etc perhaps those designing future spacecraft cassini pluto flyby etc should consider designing in a pause mode in case their spacecraft gets the ax sometime in the future after completion of the primary mission perhaps mars observer and galilleo could have some kind of routine written in for the post mission drift phase so any holes in all this james t green jgreen oboe calpoly edu i believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth john f kennedy may
