“The spacecraft has now commenced the ‘normal operations’ phase of its cruise, following the successful completion of the commissioning phase in which we have ensured that all on board systems are operating nominally,” said Omran Sharaf, project director of the mission.
“As the distance between the Hope probe and Earth increases, we are now reducing communications to essential operations during the cruise phase as we head towards our third trajectory control manoeuvre in November.”
Why has contact been reduced?
Because the testing phase been completed successfully – ensuring the probe’s systems are working as they should – engineers will not require telemetry as regularly until the next manoeuvre needs to be made or until the mission reaches the orbit insertion phase.
Contact will be made twice a week in bursts of six or seven hours.
As it moves further away from Earth, there will be a delay in receiving the telemetry and sending command because of the increasing distance.