Isee-3

[Deadpangod3]

A team using the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico has established a connection with the ISEE-3 probe, after NASA discovered it hadn't shut down, and didn't have the equipment to give it a new mision, and though it was too expensive, the team rebuilt the equipment and is now in command of ISEE-3

http://spacecollege.org/isee3/we-are-now-in-command-of-the-isee-3-spacecraft.html

[Streetwind]

Neat! After the crowdfunding campaign succeeded, I was curious if they were going to be able to pull it off.

[the_bT]

Does this constitute the first ever act of space piracy in the history of humanity?

(sure, they did get permission from a government agency, but that is nothing new in the pirating scene)

[Red Iron Crown]

Not so much piracy as salvage, to my mind.

[Deadpangod3]

(Perfecttimeforthis...)

It's not rocket science.

[WinkAllKerb'']

False, i see tree, they grow from the ground like rocket, they're just slower, but may be they reach the space someday

edit: i m a tree, and from my roots i have a dream i dbelieve i can fly (laugh at it yup yup nothing else to do true)

Edited June 2, 2014 by WinkAllKerb''

[rkman]

Does this constitute the first ever act of space piracy in the history of humanity?

(sure, they did get permission from a government agency, but that is nothing new in the pirating scene)

They seem to think so...

ISEE-3 Mission Control

[Albert VDS]

...after NASA discovered it hadn't shut down..

NASA actually put it on "standby" after putting it in it's current trajectory, they even knew it had enough fuel left.

[sgt_flyer]

well, after reading their last infos, it seems the probe's actual position if off by less than 30000km than projections made from the last known orbit - in 1986 ! speak about precision orbit

-with the updated orbital infos, it seems they'll only need a 5.8m/s delta-v change for making their manoeuver - if they do it on june 17th ! they'll need to be working overtime here to check all the necessary systems before a manoeuver change (plus, they only have limited windows to communicate with the probe + getting a go from nasa - to be sure they won't fry another probe with their amplifier )

[WinkAllKerb'']

They seem to think so...

thOose OneS look smaller than OtherS a not so long time ago on a not so far earth

[Oafman]

Last week they fired up the thrusters!

http://spacecollege.org/isee3/

Today we fired the A and B thrusters on ISEE-3 to perform a spin-up burn. Preliminary results confirm the burn and a change in rotation. Spin rate was originally 19.16 rpm. It is now at 19.76 rpm. The original mission specifications call for 19.75 +/- 0.2 rpm- so we are exactly where we wanted to be. We are now collecting telemetry in advance of our next DSN pass and our ATP-3 review with NASA. The earliest we expect to make our Trajectory Correction Maneuver is next week.

All in all, a very good day.

Pretty awesome huh?

[magnemoe]

NASA actually put it on "standby" after putting it in it's current trajectory, they even knew it had enough fuel left.

It make little sense to send a kill signal to an interplanetary probe, only time it make sense is if you have a new one who signals interfere with the first.

This was a problem with one of the moon probe landers, it still worked then they sent the next and both used the same frequency.

You want to move satellites out of GEO and shut them down too.

[cpast]

Does this constitute the first ever act of space piracy in the history of humanity?

(sure, they did get permission from a government agency, but that is nothing new in the pirating scene)

Getting permission from the owner of the item in question seems to rule out "piracy" as a proper word for this.

[Nibb31]

Permission, documentation, full cooperation, and access to the Deep Space Network. I wouldn't call that piracy.

[christok]

Getting permission from the owner of the item in question seems to rule out "piracy" as a proper word for this.

NASA donated ISEE-3/ICE to the Smithsonian many years ago. I don't see their permission anywhere so...

Yarr!

[TheDataMiner]

NASA donated ISEE-3/ICE to the Smithsonian many years ago. I don't see their permission anywhere so...

Yarr!

Sorry to burst your bubble but...

It was given to the Smithsonian if It is recovered, not as long as it is in Space. For now, it is still property of NASA.

Edited July 8, 2014 by TheDataMiner

[christok]

Sorry to burst your bubble but...

It was given to the Smithsonian if It is recovered, not as long as it is in Space. For now, it is still property of NASA.

This is The Science Labs. Please don't bring your facts in here.

[CptRichardson]

It's dead, Jim.

The fuel system suffered a pressurization leak, and they don't have any more thruster control.

[Streetwind]

Aww nuts

Is that because they did something wrong, or did it simply fall apart from old age?

[Sky_walker]

If the tanks are no longer pressurized with nitrogen gas however, the fuel cannot be forced to flow through opened valves and will not contact the catalyst.

Cowing said it was possible there was an extremely small leak in the system that allowed the gas to escape.

"Even if you had a leak where stuff came out only a molecule at a time, over the course of 36 years it would add up," Cowing said. "There may still be some stuff in there; it's just not enough."

Damn :/

Still a nice try though.

[Nibb31]

Aww nuts

Is that because they did something wrong, or did it simply fall apart from old age?

I don't think they did anything wrong. The nitrogen probably leaked out over the years and lost pressure.

[bigdad84]

The nitrogen probably leaked out over the years and lost pressure.

This is what I was questioning when I first heard of them trying to take over a probe this old.

[WafflesToo]

If you look at the accelerometer readings it looks like the thrusters were conking out towards the end of the first set; the last of the fuel that was already in the lines being spent?

http://spacecollege.org/isee3/isee-3-trajectory-correction-maneuver-data.html#more

Such a shame really, they came so far and accomplished so much. Personally, I was expecting a control failure not a propulsion failure. When they succeeded in the spin-up burn I was sure they had it.

This is now officially the dumbest thing that I've ever been upset by in my entire life

[TheDataMiner]

Hold your horses, they're not quite ready to give up yet. They still might be able to get it into l1

[sgt_flyer]

Well, if i understood what they are currently searching - it would seems isee-3 uses bladerless hydrazine tanks, and use the probe's spin to separate the hydrazine from the nitrogen. (Basically, the heavier hydrazine fall 'outwards' where the valves are located, and the lighter pressurant remains inwards. (Due to centrifugal forces) Spacecollege has asked people for a crowdsourced resaerch effort on the dissolving rate of Nitrogen in hydrazine (basically, one of the leads they are following is that the nitrogen would have dissolved in the hydrazine over the years - so the nitrogen is still here, but can't apply any pressure, because it's everywhere in the hydrazine. If the problem is because of the dissolving , maybe they'll find a way to separate the hydrazine from nitrogen (on earth, we can use heat to extract the gazes trapped in a liquid for example)