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ISEE-3
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Spitzer Space Telescope May Be Up For Grabs (Update)

NASA might turn over management of the Spitzer Space Telescope, one of the Great Observatories, to private operator. https://t.co/tCXmQyJHjf pic.twitter.com/p8aMdrzwgB — Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) July 22, 2017 At @NASA, we continue to explore new ways to maximize science/$. Wonder whether there are interested parties, finding the next #TRAPPIST1 .. https://t.co/O0M1ez40Qa — Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ) July 22, 2017 Keith’s 23 July note: It would seem that the precedents set by GALEX […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 25, 2017
ISEE-3 Is In Safe Mode

ISEE-3 Is In Safe Mode “The ground stations listening to ISEE-3 have not been able to obtain a signal since Tuesday the 16th. Arecibo, Morehead, Bochum, SETI, as well as the Usuda 64 meter dish in Japan and the Algonquin 45 meter dish in Canada have all pointed at the spacecraft with no positive results. So, at this time we are assuming that the spacecraft has gone into safe mode.”

  • NASA Watch
  • September 25, 2014
NASA Lists ISEE-3 Reboot as 2nd Largest Crowdfunded Space Effort

Emerging Space: The Evolving Landscape of 21st Century American Spaceflight, PDF, NASA Office of the Chief Technologist “Crowdfunding offers space organizations avenues for fundraising outside traditional institutional methods. Sites like Kickstarter.com, Rockethub.com, and Indiegogo.com allow space companies to tap the financial resources of private citizens interested in space exploration. In addition to providing crucial funds for the companies, crowd funding allows citizens to directly engage in space exploration by funding […]

  • NASA Watch
  • September 22, 2014
Crowdfunding in Space

Space Crowdfunding: What’s the Secret?, Winners and losers among the space start-ups, Air and Space “I had guys clambering over the [radio antenna] dish in Arecibo [Puerto Rico], hanging hardware while people were still giving money, and people were saying, ‘This is great!’ ” he says. “I was live-tweeting everything we did. Every geeky expression that happened in the control room I threw out there, and people were telling me […]

  • NASA Watch
  • September 9, 2014
ISEE-3 Update

Civilians steer NASA satellite from an old McDonald’s, Cnet “I hadn’t been aware that, if you ask NASA nicely, you’ll be allowed to take the controls of a satellite floating in outer space. Clearly, I need to get out more, as this is what a group of very interested civilians are doing from their headquarters in a McDonald’s.” ISEE-3 Becomes A Spacecraft For All In Today’s Lunar Flyby, io9 “Our […]

  • NASA Watch
  • August 11, 2014
Google Hangout: A Spacecraft for All: The Live ISEE-3 Lunar Flyby

Join the hangout live as the ISEE-3 spacecraft makes it’s long-awaited lunar flyby after 36 years in interplanetary space. Flip between the 3D realtime trajectory and the live video program. Live from ISEE-3 Reboot headquarters, a special moderated by The Sky at Night’s Chris Lintott and featuring scientists and experts from around the world all brought together for this historic event. Sunday, August 10th 10:30am PT – 12:00pm PT Go […]

  • NASA Watch
  • August 9, 2014
Google and ISEE-3 Reboot Team Join Forces

Google Creative Lab and ISEE-3 Reboot Team Announce New Citizen Science Website “We are excited to let all of you know about the newly announced collaboration between the ISEE-3 Reboot Project and Google. The main feature of this is a new website developed by Google Creative Lab in collaboration with the ISEE-3 Reboot Project team that features a history of the ISEE-3 mission as well as a presentation of data […]

  • NASA Watch
  • August 8, 2014
ISEE-3 Is Doing Science Again

ISEE-3 Science Status Report 7 August 2014 “As promised, the time of closest approach to the Moon is 18:16 UTC (on Sunday, 10 August). Vassilis Angelopolous at UCLA is now involved. He has two spacecraft in lunar orbit and is planning to acquire data during the ISEE flyby in a special telemetry mode. That should add immeasurably to the scientific results. The telemetry signal continues to improve. There is still […]

  • NASA Watch
  • August 8, 2014
ISEE-3: Next Steps

Announcing the ISEE-3 Interplanetary Citizen Science Mission “After a successful reawakening the venerable ISEE-3 spacecraft is about to begin the first interplanetary citizen science mission. We will be beginning the “ISEE-3 Interplanetary Citizen Science Mission” on 10 August 2014 as the spacecraft flies by the Moon. We have a functional space craft that can do science and is already returning new data. All of our original citizen science objectives remain […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 24, 2014
Rebooting ISEE-3: Space for All

Lost and Found in Space: Rebooting ISEE-3: Space for All, op ed, Keith Cowing, New York Times “NASA likes to say that “space is hard,” but to make itself relevant to the people whose taxes fund it, it must get outside its comfort zone. To its credit, NASA saw the potential of our project to reach beyond the traditional audience. The interactions via social media with our supporters have borne […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 18, 2014
ISEE-3 Is In Borg Mode

We Are Borg: Crowdsourced ISEE-3 Engineering and the Collective Mind of the Internet, Dennis Wingo “In the science fiction universe of Star Trek, set several hundred years in the future, when we are a spacefaring civilization, humanity encounters a species called the Borg. The Borg are a conglomeration of species who are assimilated into a collective mind numbering in the hundreds of billions. All of the Borg are connected to […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 15, 2014
ISEE-3 Reboot Project Seeks Your Technical Help

ISEE-3 Reboot Project Seeks Your Help To Solve a Technical Problem “We have a crowdsourced research project for our ISEE-3 Reboot fans. One of our volunteers, Karl-Max Wagner from Germany has an interesting idea. Did the Nitrogen pressurizing gas dissolve in the Hydrazine in the tanks?” Update: We spent all day yesterday with space propulsion experts. We have identified a series of options including hydrazine tank heating and a long […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 11, 2014
ISEE-3 Update

ISEE-3 Status Report 9 July 2014 (afternoon) “Our troubleshooting today eliminated some suspected causes of propulsion system problems. We do not think any of the valves are malfuctioning. Right now we think there is a chance that the Nitrogen used as a pressurant for the monopropellant Hydrazine propulsion system may have been depleted. That said, we still have a number of troubleshooting options yet to be explored. We have a […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 9, 2014
Jump Starting ISEE-3

In Effort to Shift Abandoned NASA Craft, a Hiccup (or Burp), New York Times “The first part of the maneuver succeeded, a milestone in an effort to resurrect a zombie spacecraft that NASA abandoned 17 years ago. But then — perhaps to be expected during work on a jalopy — problems cropped up, and the thrusters failed to fire properly. Another attempt to complete the course correction will be made […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 8, 2014
ISEE-3 Trajectory Correction Maneuver

ISEE-3 Status Report 7 July 2014 (evening) “If all goes according to plan on Tuesday, 8 July, we will conduct the Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM). This will require a much longer firing of the spacecraft’s thrusters.  Our window at Arecibo opens at 12:42 pm EDT and extends until 3:29 pm EDT. If the burn is a success we will follow up with another ranging session using the DSN to get […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 8, 2014
ISEE-3 Engines Fired (Update)

Keith’s 2 July note: We just fired the engines on ISEE-3 to perform a spin-up burn. Preliminary results confirm the burn and a change in rotation. The 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. Keith’s 7 July update: We are planning to try and do […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 7, 2014
ISEE-3 Vector Helium Magnetometer Update

Notes on the ISEE-3 Vector Helium Magnetometer From the Original Principal Investigator “Ed Smith, Original Original Principal Investigator on ISEE-3 Vector Helium Magnetometer: The effort to recapture the ISEE-/ ICE spacecraft has just achieved a notable scientific success. Data recovered from the spacecraft very recently show that the magnetometer is not only operating well but has observed a large rapid change in the Interplanetary Magnetic Field/IMF.”

  • NASA Watch
  • July 3, 2014
ISEE-3 Makes First Science Observations in Decades

Keith’s note: We were able to use the B transmitter today for the first time but were unable to complete the various steps needed to command ISEE-3 to fire its engines. There is a chance of a window at Arecibo tomorrow. Meanwhile, the first scientific measurements by ISEE-3 in decades have been obtained. Recent magnetometer data from ISEE-3 shows clear evidence of a recent solar event. We will be releasing […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 1, 2014
Successful DSN Ranging Session with ISEE-3 (Update)

Keith’s 26 June Update: Just as our DSN window closed today we were able to get 2 way Doppler lock and ranging at a 47.5 kHz offset.  DSN got the four ranging points needed from ISEE-3. This is the first time since 1999 that DSN has talked to the spacecraft. A follow-up session tomorrow should get us a lot more recording time. Hats off to the DSN guys – especially […]

  • NASA Watch
  • June 27, 2014