Scientists Tried to Kill Spacecraft But It Was So Tough That It Refused to Die

Scientists Tried to Kill Spacecraft But It Was So Tough That It Refused to Die

While it was getting ready to power down its Gaia spacecraft, the European Space Agency encountered some unusual resistance. The spacecraft, which has been creating a highly detailed three-dimensional map of more than a billion stars throughout the Milky Way and beyond, proved surprisingly difficult to kill. "Switching off a spacecraft at the end of its mission sounds like a simple enough job," said Gaia spacecraft operator Tiago Nogueira in an …