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FordColter

Halcyon lander silent through two contact windows on asteroid 4418 Teodora

The Merovan Space Office says its relay spacecraft is healthy and is examining whether the lander has dropped into a safe mode. A faint signal logged at Port Alder has not been confirmed as coming from Halcyon.

Version 15 sources, 3 outletsWell corroborated

Automated, source-linked synthesis. Published automatically after validation. Select any text to ask about it.

FC/0069 · SCIENCEPORT ALDER
The Wren relay's passes over 4418 Teodora, with the two missed windows marked. Illustration: Ford Colter.Original illustration · licence: generated in-house · no third-party imagery

The short version

  • The Halcyon lander on asteroid 4418 Teodora has missed two scheduled communication windows; its last confirmed contact on Monday showed all systems nominal.13
  • The Merovan Space Office says the Wren relay spacecraft is healthy and is reviewing whether the lander entered a safe mode.3
  • A faint signal near Halcyon's beacon frequency was logged at Port Alder, below the level the office counts as a detection. Its origin is unconfirmed.4

What we know

EACH FACT CARRIES ITS EVIDENCE STATUS
  • Official statement

    No telemetry was received in the window that opened at 04:10 basin time on Tuesday.12

  • Official statement

    The last confirmed contact was on Monday at 19:42, with a signal margin of 14 dB and all systems nominal.1

  • Official statement

    No telemetry was received in the second window. The Wren relay spacecraft and its receiver are working.3

  • Official statement

    Controllers are reviewing whether the lander entered a safe mode that limits it to a low-rate beacon.3

  • Reported

    Port Alder dish logs show a signal about 2.1 dB above background near the beacon frequency in the second window, below the office's 3 dB detection level.4

  • Reported

    Teodora rotates every 6.1 hours and its surface temperature swings by more than 150 degrees Celsius between day and night.5

What is still unclear

Developing: details may change

  • Why the lander has gone quiet. The office has raised safe mode as one possibility; specialist reporting notes that tilt or shadow can also cut power and line of sight. No cause has been confirmed.35
  • Whether the faint signal at Port Alder came from Halcyon or was background noise. The office has not commented on it.4
  • When the next contact attempt is scheduled and how many attempts are planned. The office's updates do not give a schedule.23
  • What the lander was doing at the time of its last contact. The published updates report its status as nominal but do not describe its activity.1

Where the reporting differs

POSITIONS ARE ATTRIBUTED, NEVER AVERAGED

How to read the faint signal

A
Merovan Space Office (detection rule, as reported by Orbit Ledger)
A signal below 3 dB above background is not treated as a detection.4
B
Orbit Ledger (reporting dish logs)
The dish logged a signal of about 2.1 dB near Halcyon's beacon frequency during the second window.4

Why it matters

If the lander is in a safe mode, the office's own update implies it could still be transmitting at a low rate, which would leave room for recovery.3

The faint reading shows why the office uses a detection level: a signal below it cannot be told apart from background with confidence.4

In numbers

CHART DRAWN FROM CITED DATA
Signal received from Halcyon, by contact windowdB above background

Last contact from the Merovan Space Office. Window 1: no signal logged. Window 2: faint signal in Port Alder dish logs, origin unconfirmed, as reported by Orbit Ledger. 14

Signal received from Halcyon, by contact window
LabelValue (dB above background)
Last contact (Mon)14
Window 10
Window 22.1

Timeline

EVERY ENTRY LINKS TO ITS SOURCE

  1. Last confirmed contact with Halcyon; all systems nominal.1

  2. First scheduled window passes with no telemetry.1

  3. Mission director says the team is not assuming the worst.2

  4. Second window passes without contact; safe mode under review.3

  5. Orbit Ledger reports a faint signal in Port Alder dish logs.4

Who and where

PRESS A NAME TO ASK ABOUT IT
PersonMission director, Halcyon
Said the team was not assuming the worst after the first missed window.2
PersonFlight operations lead, Merovan Space Office
Confirmed the Wren relay spacecraft is healthy.3
Place
Small asteroid where Halcyon landed; it turns once every 6.1 hours.25
Place
Merovan capital and site of the deep-space dish whose logs show the faint signal.4
Organisation
Operator of the Halcyon lander and the Wren relay spacecraft.13

Terms to know

A scheduled period when the lander and its relay are positioned to exchange signals.1
A protective state a spacecraft can enter after a fault, switching off non-essential systems and transmitting only a simple, low-rate beacon.3
A craft that passes messages between a lander and Earth. For Halcyon, this is Wren.3
How much stronger a received signal is than the surrounding noise. The office counts 3 dB or more as a detection.4

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Study this storyGuide: Deep-space missions

Questions readers ask

Source ledger

Every record this briefing draws on, with its publisher, time, type and role. Headlines and links only: read the original reporting at the source. Snapshot of sources taken 4 Nov, 10:35.

Source directory

Primary evidence2

  1. 1Merovan Space Office

    Primary / official
    Halcyon status update: no signal in scheduled window (opens the publisher's site)
    Published
    3 Nov, 07:05
    Type
    official
    From
    Merovan Islands
    Link
    space.merovan.example

    Fictional demo outlet: this link does not resolve.

  2. 3Merovan Space Office

    Primary / official
    Second window passes without contact; safe mode under review (opens the publisher's site)
    Published
    4 Nov, 02:35
    Type
    official
    From
    Merovan Islands
    Link
    space.merovan.example

    Fictional demo outlet: this link does not resolve.

Attributed claim3

  1. 2Continental Press Agency

    Wire
    Space office says Halcyon lander is silent ahead of a second contact attempt (opens the publisher's site)
    Published
    3 Nov, 14:35
    Type
    report
    From
    Ilvar Basin
    Link
    continentalpress.example

    Fictional demo outlet: this link does not resolve.

  2. 4Orbit Ledger

    Specialist
    Port Alder dish logged a faint signal near Halcyon's beacon frequency (opens the publisher's site)
    Published
    4 Nov, 07:15
    Type
    report
    From
    International
    Link
    orbitledger.example

    Fictional demo outlet: this link does not resolve.

  3. 5Orbit Ledger

    Specialist
    Why a lander on a small, fast-spinning asteroid is hard to reach (opens the publisher's site)
    Published
    4 Nov, 10:35
    Type
    explainer
    From
    International
    Link
    orbitledger.example

    Fictional demo outlet: this link does not resolve.

Revisions

Published versions are kept as they were. A correction creates a new version and a note.

  1. v14 Nov, 13:15Added the second missed window and the faint signal in Port Alder dish logs. Coverage is limited to the operator, one wire and one specialist outlet.

How this briefing was made

Method
Clustered from 5 records, synthesised under citation rules, validated before publishing
Prompt version
synthesis.v1+classify.v1
Model provider
Deterministic demo provider (no live model)
Review
auto published
Snapshot
1fd08b1a-44a1-4986-94aa-2f198ad6c9f3

No confidence percentages: evidence status is shown claim by claim instead. Read the methodology or report an error.

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