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ISEE-3

NASA Signs Space Act Agreement With ISEE-3 Reboot Project

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
May 23, 2014
Filed under

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. 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.”
Keith’s note: We have passed our initial $125,000 goal – and our $150,000 ‘stretch’ goal. First Contact with ISEE-3 is imminent i.e. hours/days. Please consider helping this project at http://rkthb.co/42228.
Crowd-funded “citizen scientists” will try to reboot 1970s NASA satellite, CBS
Asked if the goal was to resume science or just prove that it could be done, Cowing said “it’s both.” “Why not try it? We told people up front it’s iffy, and we’ve gotten over $150,000 now from people and they knew exactly what the risk was. And, it’s cool. The factor that’s motivated a lot of people is ‘why not?'” As for the potential science, “we’re going to do our best to make sure whatever comes back from that spacecraft is on line as fast as we can get it online, that it’s open to anyone.”
NASA Is Letting Citizens Commandeer a Long-Lost Satellite, Gizmodo
If there was any doubt about whether modern Americans were still enamored with space, the results of their crowdfunding campaign squash it. The group blew through their $100,000 goal, and are currently getting close to a $150,000 stretch goal. There are only two days left to donate–and you should–but the fact that they’ve raised so much money in so short a time is remarkable.
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NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

16 responses to “NASA Signs Space Act Agreement With ISEE-3 Reboot Project”

  1. Michael Spencer says:
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    I’ve been wondering about the ‘ownership’ of the bird. Supposing it was abandoned- does that mean anyone can grab it? And did NASA abandon it when they said they have no further plans- I don’t know what they said officially.

    What happens when people are finally moving about in space; are the old birds derelicts and there for the taking?

    Anyway appears that NASA is playing nice, at least insofar as we’ve been told. It’s a wondrous project.

    • Hug Doug ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ says:
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      the Outer Space Treaty is very clear – those who launch satellites retain ownership of them.

      • Donald Barker says:
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        There are no provisions in the “Outer Space Treaty” for private citizens or companies…. So it should be wide open for private salvage and use. Thoughts?

        • Hug Doug ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ says:
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          my thought is no, you’re completely wrong.

          private citizens or private companies are covered in Article VI

          “States Parties to the Treaty shall bear international responsibility for national activities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or by non-governmental entities, and for assuring that national activities are carried out in conformity with the provisions set forth in the present Treaty. The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty. When activities are carried on in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, by an international organization, responsibility for compliance with this Treaty shall be borne both by the international organization and by the States Parties to the Treaty participating in such organization.”

          and ownership remains with those who launched the object. this is established in Article VIII

          “A State Party to the Treaty on whose registry an object launched into outer space is carried shall retain jurisdiction and control over such object, and over any personnel thereof, while in outer space or on a celestial body. Ownership of objects launched into outer space, including objects landed or constructed on a celestial body, and of their component parts, is not affected by their presence in outer space or on a celestial body or by their return to the Earth.”

    • hikingmike says:
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      Now I wonder about communications with these older birds. Do they have protected encrypted communication? Can anyone send up a signal and command it to do something if they know what’s needed? Was there a time when communications were switched over to be encrypted?

    • Denniswingo says:
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      The space act agreement legitimizes our ability to communicate with and control the spacecraft.

  2. Hug Doug ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ says:
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    2,000 funders!

    awesome 🙂

  3. Hug Doug ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ says:
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    $148,908

    http://makeameme.org/media/

  4. Richard H. Shores says:
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    Major credit to the brilliant designers and engineers of the old Fairchild Space and Electronics Division for building such a damn durable spacecraft!

  5. Steven Rappolee says:
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    so now we have it!
    Telemetry porn for all to see……………

  6. Denniswingo says:
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    Salvage 1 baby!

    (from the Andy Griffith movie from 1979)

    • DTARS says:
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      Funny

      I always thought of salvage as requiring you to have to go up there with a craft and grab it or something. I guess I just don’t respect the garbage that’s up there enough.

      Salvage 1

      Cool 🙂

  7. Hug Doug ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ says:
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    fair point, lol.

    but eventually the Death Star did get blown up.

    and they wound up exceeded their funding goal, too

    $159,502