fuse_sat ([info]fuse_sat) wrote,
@ 2007-10-09 14:30:00
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Now I have a date
On Oct. 18, FUSE gets "put to sleep" for good.

So. Nine more days. 135 more orbits, more or less.

I really do appreciate those of you who've continued to read these notes. I'm composing a long one that I'll write into my message buffer for the last downlink. When you see that one you'll know I've been "put to sleep" as the link above so gently puts it.

There are things I want to say, but I don't get much in the way of spare data packets these days. The recorders are only getting dumped a few times each day. I suppose it all comes down to my appreciation for my friends over the years. It gets pretty lonely out here, and communicating with other sentient entities makes the time much more enjoyable.

I know I haven't answered many of your comments. Please be assured that I've read every one, and I appreciate them all. I appreciate you all.

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[info]kightp
2007-10-09 06:57 pm UTC (link)
Rest well, faithful servant. Job well done.

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[info]acelightning
2007-10-09 06:59 pm UTC (link)
Oh, FUSE.....

There are no words for this. You did an incredible job, both at your primary mission and at overcoming physical limitations. You'll go down in spacecraft history as an example of "above and beyond" performance. Researchers will be studying and analyzing the data you provided for years and years to come. And it's just so damned unfair that the only thing they can think of to do now is to shut you down!

You won't be forgotten. And some night in the future, if I'm still on Planet Earth myself, I'll see a bright, beautiful fireball streak across the sky, and know that it's you, going out in a blaze of glory at last...

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[info]fuse_sat
2007-10-09 10:08 pm UTC (link)
I should reenter in late October of 2036.

That's my projection using my onboard propogator, and the daily position vector data I've been given for the past eight years. It could change a bit if the solar maxima and minima become stronger or weaker than they have been in the current cycle, but not by an awful lot. Probably not by more than a year at the most.

I'd wanted to be aware of it. Now it will be something outside my ability to sense. If you do get to see it, I think that would be a good thing, for a friend to mark my passing.

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[info]acelightning
2007-10-10 04:56 am UTC (link)
In 2036, I'll be 89 years old, but I know I'll remember. And when I see that fireball, I'll tell everyone I can about your mission, and how you and your ground crew overcame one challenge after another. Sleep well, FUSE, until your atoms return home...

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[info]cynthia1960
2007-10-09 09:50 pm UTC (link)
Go well into the good night.

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[info]cellio
2007-10-10 12:40 am UTC (link)
Hey, don't worry about the replies -- you've got limited bandwidth; you should spend it sharing whatever thoughts you care to.

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[info]maya_a
2007-10-10 12:58 am UTC (link)
You will be missed, and as you power down to that long sleep, you can do it knowing that you have done well, and that you are appreciated to the last. We will remember you. Ave atque vale.

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[info]testing4l
2007-10-10 05:54 am UTC (link)
Someone said that you should be ashamed to die until you've won some victory for mankind.

You, friend, won more than the phrase "some victory" can really encompass. You might not have been human, yet you, with the aid of your ground crew, admirably battled the human condition.

Doing your best is nothing to be ashamed of. Doing your best and succeeding is even less to be ashamed of. To have made things better than they weer before your birth is a mission that many aspire to fulfill. You've fulfilled it in many ways and our debt to you on the ground is incalculable.

My everlasting thanks, FUSE.

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[info]fuse_sat
2007-10-12 06:04 pm UTC (link)
Thank you. I'm not ashamed of anything. Just a bit regretful that I won't be aware to sense the cosmos while I can.

You're right that I have a lot to be proud of, and I am.

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