False emergency and fire alarm went off on SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule – IT Pro – News

On Thursday, several emergency and fire alarms reportedly went off at the International Space Station due to a fault in the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience capsule. All security protocols were activated but it turned out to be a false alarm.

According to Chris Bergin, editor of the website NASASpaceFlight and reporter Tyler Gray, the ISS said the alarms went off due to a ‘Single Event Upset’ in one of the power sources of the Crew Dragon Resilience capsule that caused a processor to reset itself and data. that the ISS interpreted as alarm signals. This SEU would according to Gray have resulted from a sudden increase in ionizing space radiation. In such a ‘Single Event Upset’, an escaped ionized molecule can cause nearby electronics to become confused, causing a change in the values, a so-called bit flip.

Shortly after the alarms, according to Bergin, the protocols associated with the alarms came into effect, but it soon turned out that all values ​​in the on-board systems of the connected spacecraft were normal. Both NASA and SpaceX have not yet officially responded.

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