First contact made with 'zombie' spacecraft: Amateur astronomers successfully revive 36-year-old probe as it approaches Earth
- A Virginia-based amateur group has succeeded in reviving a 'dead' probe
- The crowd-funded ISEE-3 Reboot Project has 'talked' with the spacecraft
- The team will now assess the health of ISEE-3 over the coming weeks
- This is the first time Nasa has given control of one of its craft to the public
- ISEE-3 first launched in 1978 but has not been heard from since 1999
- Reviving the mission could help scientists better understand solar winds which can affect satellites and the climate on Earth
Contact was last made with the spacecraft, called ISEE-3 (International Sun-Earth Explorer), in the late 90s.
As it approached our planet, scientists had a brief chance to communicate with the 36-year-old probe in an attempt to bring it back to life - which they have now managed to do.
Nasa has officially endorsed an amateur group,
known as the the ISEE-3 Reboot Project, for them to attempt to bring a
vintage spacecraft, called ISEE-3, back to life. Pictured is an artist's
concept image of ISEE-3
‘Over the coming days and weeks our team will make an assessment of the spacecraft's overall health and refine the techniques required to fire its engines and bring it back to an orbit near Earth.’
The team will then decide what sort of mission they intend to send the spacecraft on.
According to Cowing, ‘first contact with ISEE-3 was achieved at the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico.’
The achievement was a collaboration with a number of other organisations and people including the staff at Arecibo and a team at the Bochum Observatory in Germany.
In April the ISEE-3 Reboot Project team - made up of the groups Space College, Skycorp, and SpaceRef - undertook a successful crowd funding project to raise £74,000 ($125,000) to rescue the probe.
Nasa officially endorsed the Virginia-based project and signed a space act agreement for the group to take command and control of the 1970s-era craft.
This is the first time Nasa has worked on such an agreement for use of a spacecraft the agency is no longer using or ever planned to use again.
ISEE-3: THE ORIGINAL MISSION
ISEE-3
was the first satellite to study the constant flow of solar wind
streaming toward Earth from a stable orbit point between our planet and
the sun known as the Lagrangian 1, or L1.
Monitoring that wind helped scientists better understand the interconnected sun-Earth system, which at its most turbulent can affect satellites around Earth.
In 1984, it was given a new mission and called the International Cometary Explorer. In September 1985, it passed through the tail of Comet Giacobini-Zinner, making it the first spacecraft to gather data from a comet.
It also went on to fly by Comet Halley in March 1986. From 1991 until 1997, when it was too far away for reliable communications, this satellite continued to investigate the sun.
Now it's coming home to visit - making its closest approach to Earth in August.
Monitoring that wind helped scientists better understand the interconnected sun-Earth system, which at its most turbulent can affect satellites around Earth.
In 1984, it was given a new mission and called the International Cometary Explorer. In September 1985, it passed through the tail of Comet Giacobini-Zinner, making it the first spacecraft to gather data from a comet.
It also went on to fly by Comet Halley in March 1986. From 1991 until 1997, when it was too far away for reliable communications, this satellite continued to investigate the sun.
Now it's coming home to visit - making its closest approach to Earth in August.
‘We have a chance to engage a new generation of citizen scientists through this creative effort to recapture the ISEE-3 spacecraft as it zips by the Earth this summer.’
In March, amateur radio astronomers were able to track the spacecraft and find out its route, raising hopes that the mission could be revived.
Launched in 1978 to study the constant flow of solar wind streaming toward Earth, ISEE-3 successfully completed its prime mission in 1981.
With remaining fuel and functioning instruments, it then was redirected to observe two comets.
Following the end of that mission, the spacecraft continued in orbit around the sun. It is now making its closest approach to Earth in more than 30 years.
The goal of the ISEE-3 Reboot Project is to put the spacecraft into an orbit at a gravitationally stable point between Earth and the sun known as Lagrangian 1 (L1).
Once safely back in orbit, the next step would be to return the spacecraft to operations and use its instruments as they were originally designed.
The mission's original communication hardware no
longer exists, so controlling the spacecraft will require the amateur
group to create virtual software versions of the original hardware. If
they are able to do this, the project will use the Arecibo Radio
Observatory (pictured) in Puerto Rico to send commands to ISEE-3
ISEE-3's close approach provided optimal conditions to attempt communication.
Nasa said it has shared technical data with the amateur group to help them communicate with and return data from ISEE-3.
The mission’s original communication hardware no longer exists, so controlling the spacecraft will require the amateur group to create virtual software versions of the original hardware.
If they are able to do this, the project will use the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico to send commands to ISEE-3.
New data resulting from the project will be shared with the science community and the public, providing a unique tool for teaching students and the public about spacecraft operations and data gathering.
The data also will provide valuable information about the effects of the space environment on the 36-year old spacecraft.
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