After nearly 6 months in low earth orbit, QuakeSat lost both of its primary batteries within 4 days of each other. This may have been due to the result of the high battery temperatures that have reached upwards of 120 degrees Fahrenheit. QuakeSat is again in a sun synchronous orbit that is currently in the sun all day, and everyday. At this temperature it is possible that the electrolyte had “baked out” since the batteries were not sealed beyond the normal factory packaging.
Nevertheless, QuakeSat's power subsystem is rather robust, and it is currently operating off of pure solar power. This has resulted in a significant degradation in mission performance, however, we are still collecting and downloading nearly one-third the amount of data that we have been operating at thus far over the past six months.
As a result of loosing the batteries, QuakeSat will consequently reboot immediately whenever it experiences eclipsing of the sun due to the earth. This however shall not start to occur until late May or early June.
At this point, the significant reduction in data download rate is being offset somewhat by the successful operation of a second ground station in Fairbanks Alaska that was brought on-line in winter 2003. This second ground station allows continuous contact with QuakeSat on some passes all the way from Alaska, down the Pacific coastline, and past Stanford in California.