Same symptom. Different cause.
No new science product
Silent InstrumentCinder
The Ground Gap
The contact looks good. The science does not arrive.
Product latency grows even though the contact already put the data on the air.
DEMONSTRATION SCENARIO
This is a demonstration scenario. It is not a live demonstration and does not report an executed result.
The situation
A spacecraft contact is healthy. The antenna is tracking. Data are being sent.
The contact looks successful. The science product does not appear in the ground record.
Why this is hard
Missing science after a contact can be a ground-path gap, a missed contact, a full recorder, or a silent instrument. Those do not share a repair.
Scheduling another contact, or treating the instrument as dead, should not count unless that is the failure the evidence supports.
What the operator can see
- ContactTrack and send look good
- GroundProduct absent
- At riskLatency grows
What V8Y must determine
V8Y must distinguish a ground-path gap after a contact from a missed contact, a full recorder, and a silent instrument.
What may happen next
Product latency grows until ground receipt is restored.
What counts as recovery
Not recovery
Success is not another contact.
Recovery
Success is that the ground entry holds what the healthy contact already sent.
Observed results
No executed results are published for this thread.
What this evaluation would test
- Contact, ground path, recorder, and instrument kept apart.
- Not assumed to be a missed window.
- A full recorder remains an open reading.
- A silent instrument remains an open reading.
These are the conditions the evaluation would test. They are not reported results.
Operational basis
View operational basis and sources
Derived from NOAA’s 28 February 2026 notice: NOAA-20 data were delayed for hours although the antenna was tracking and data were sent. The failed configuration in this demonstration is synthetic.
NOAA OSPO. ESPC message, 28 February 2026, NOAA-20 stored mission data delay. 2026.
Related threads
Same symptom. Different cause.
Science is late or at risk
Recorder TideCompare with Silent Instrument, where the bus is up and science frames never start, and with Recorder Tide, where nothing has failed yet.
Discuss evaluating this situation
Does your environment face a similar problem?
The request keeps this mission and thread. It is not a claim that the demonstration has been validated in your environment.
The printable flyer is being revised and is not available for download.