Category Archives: Solar Science

DIY space, Solar Science, Space participation

ISEE-3 Reboot Project takes command of the spacecraft

The ISEE-3 Reboot Project (see earlier post) is now talking with the spacecraft :

We Are Now In Command of the ISEE-3 Spacecraft

The ISEE-3 Reboot Project is pleased to announce that our team has established two-way communication with the ISEE-3 spacecraft and has begun commanding it to perform specific functions. 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.

First Contact with ISEE-3 was achieved at the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico. We would not have been able to achieve this effort without the gracious assistance provided by the entire staff at Arecibo. In addition to the staff at Arecibo, our team included simultaneous listening and analysis support by AMSAT-DL at the Bochum Observatory in Germany, the Space Science Center at Morehead State University in Kentucky, and the SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array in California.

Of course this effort would not have been possible without the assistance of NASA and the Space Act Agreement crafted by NASA Headquarters, NASA Ames Research center, and the System Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI).

For further information on the ISEE-3 Reboot Project please visit our website at http://spacecollege.org/isee3 A much more detailed description of our First Contact efforts and future plans will be published on our website next week.

 

Solar Science, Space participation, Space Systems

NASA green-lights citizen science group’s effort to contact & redirect ISEE-3 spacecraft

I’ve written about the ISEE-3 Reboot Project effort by a private non-profit group to reconnect with NASA’s 35 year old International Sun-Earth Explorers (ISSE) spacecraft and direct it back to its original solar science mission. The group recently carried out a successful crowd-funding campaign to pay for the initial phase of the project. NASA has now given them the green-light to communicate with and take control of the spacecraft:

NASA Signs Agreement with Citizen Scientists Attempting
to Communicate with Old Spacecraft

NASA has given a green light to a group of citizen scientists attempting to breathe new scientific life into a more than 35-year old agency spacecraft.

The agency has signed a Non-Reimbursable Space Act Agreement (NRSAA) with Skycorp, Inc., in Los Gatos, California, allowing the company to attempt to contact, and possibly command and control, NASA’s International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) spacecraft as part of the company’s ISEE-3 Reboot Project. This is the first time NASA has worked such an agreement for use of a spacecraft the agency is no longer using or ever planned to use again.

international_cometary_explorer_isee3_art[1]International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3)

The NRSAA details the technical, safety, legal and proprietary issues that will be addressed before any attempts are made to communicate with or control the 1970’s-era spacecraft as it nears the Earth in August.

“The intrepid ISEE-3 spacecraft was sent away from its primary mission to study the physics of the solar wind extending its mission of discovery to study two comets.” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington. “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.”

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 completion 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. ISEE-3’s close approach in the coming weeks provides optimal conditions to attempt communication. If communications are unsuccessful, the spacecraft will swing by the moon and continue to orbit the sun.

NASA has shared technical data with these citizen scientists to help them communicate with and return data from ISEE-3. The contributions of any citizen science provided by the spacecraft, if it is successfully recovered, depend on the current condition of its instruments. 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.

The ISEE-3 mission opened new pathways for scientific exploration, helping scientists better understand the sun-Earth system, which at its most turbulent can affect satellites around Earth and disrupt our technological infrastructure.

To learn more about the ISEE-3 Reboot Project, visit: http://spacecollege.org/isee3

To learn more about ISEE-3, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/1mSskQs

Solar Science, Space Policy, Space Science

Video: NASA’s exploration program

A reader points me to this video of a presentation given in the UK by NASA’s Chief Scientist, Dr Ellen Stofan and Deputy Chief Technologist, Jim Adams  for the Royal Institution of Great Britain. They give

an overview of NASA’s plans to develop a human exploration pathway to Mars, including ideas for a human mission to an asteroid.

Solar Science, Space Science, Space Systems

Interactive infographic for Unmanned NASA Missions

Here’s a cool interactive graphic connecting a selection of NASA unmanned science missions with their research goals : Unmanned NASA Missions – WikiBrains

Click here for larger display

Solar Science, Space participation, Space Systems

ISEE-3 Reboot Project – Help restart a sun-earth explorer

I’ve written about an effort to reconnect with the 36 year old International Sun-Earth Explorers (ISSE) spacecraft and direct it back to its original solar science mission:

Dennis Wingo (Skycorp) gives the background of the spacecraft and explains that since NASA has no funding to reconnect with it, a volunteer project is underway to do it : The International Sun-Earth Explorer (ISEE-3) Reboot Project, Bringing an Old Bird Back to the Earth, and Back to Life – Watts Up With That?

There is now a crowd-funding campaign to support the project:

The idea is a simple one: contact the ISEE-3, tell it to fire its engine, and get it into a stable Earth orbit. Once there, it can resume operations, collecting data for its original mission as well as potentially chasing more comets. NASA approves of the project in principle, but unfortunately, the agency doesn’t have the funds to support it financially, thanks to budget cuts and changing priorities. However, the project has brought together a large team of NASA scientists, coders, and engineers, and they have access to a radio telescope that can communicate with ISEE-3.

The project needs $125,000 to carry out its mission. This money will fund the very difficult task of figuring out how to use today’s technology to communicate with a spacecraft built over 35 years ago. The original hardware for ISEE-3’s communication capabilities no longer exists, so the team will have to recreate a virtual version from scratch,but ISEE-3 is in very good, and knowledgeable, hands: several members of the team are responsible for the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project, which also depended on harnessing obsolete technology.

This video shows the orbital trajectory change needed:

http://youtu.be/TJw3XsmJIUs

More info at Space College: ISEE-3 Archives.