Recently, at Stanford’s Joint Science Operations Center, which processes data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), a pipe in the server’s liquid cooling system burst. The water was several centimeters from the floor, which seriously damaged the equipment. The data center had to be shut down for an indefinite period of time, depriving NASA of the ability to monitor space weather using these satellites.
Image source: The Register
The center (JSOC) processes data from two of SDO’s three science instruments: the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) and the Atmospheric Image Array (AIA). NASA bitterly jokes that despite servicing the Sun, it will not be possible to dry the server room with its help. The damage has not been fully determined, but it will not be possible to restore the system until next year.
The SDO satellite delivered about 42 TB of data every month. Fortunately, although the data is unavailable for processing, it is not lost. As soon as access to them is restored, processing will resume. HMI instrument data, for example, is currently stored in New Mexico. The inability to process data in real time makes up-to-date information for mission planning and space weather assessment unavailable. This is all the more annoying and dangerous because the Sun has entered the peak of its 11-year activity cycle – now it needs to be monitored at all times.