NASA gifts ISEE-3 space probe to 'us'!

[OrtwinS]

NASA officially gifted this old observation probe to a group of civillian scientists!

People found out it is still working, and it is believed there is still enough fuel to alter its orbit so it can stick closer to earth.

Since NASA scrapped the communication equipment for this 36 year gem some time ago they are now scrambling to get the the required tech together .

ISEE-3 spend the first few years of its active service at Earths L1 point, and was later sent into heliocentric orbit.

ISEE-3 catching up with Earth:

The first goal of the ISEE-3 Reboot Project is to return it to the L1 point again. After that they want to reactivate the probes instruments.

Sources:

NASA - NASA signs agreement with citizen scientists attempting to communicate with old spacecraft

The Register - Space hackers prepare to reactivate antiquated spacecraft

The Guardian - Waking up ISEE-3

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

[ Dutch ] NASA schenkt amateurs satelliet

About ISEE-3: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=ISEEICE

About the Project: http://spacecollege.org/isee3/

I know that this plan is slightly old news, but now it's officially approved .

ALERT! Only 40 hours left if you want back this project:

http://www.rockethub.com/42228

(They need abut 25k USD more to buy some com-time from NASA's Deep Space network)

Edited May 22, 2014 by OrtwinS
added video link, cleanup, typos, added even morel links

[CaptRobau]

Glad it finally went through officially.

[Ravenchant]

Only 9k more now! Let's hope it works

[Javster]

Should they get a loan? Since the timing is essential here, they should be able to pay it back when they've succeeded.

[cantab]

Supported. It's good to hear that ISEE may yet see more.

[deadshot462]

Cool news. Also pretty sure the kickstarter group can pull this off at a fraction of the price it would take NASA to do.