Fundraisers Expect Green Light from NASA To Recover 70’s-Vintage Spacecraft”, Space News
“A pair of space geeks quarterbacking an effort to bring a derelict NASA spacecraft back into orbit around Earth expect NASA on May 13 to legally bless their privately funded project to recover and restart the 36 year-old International Sun/Earth Explorer-3. “We expect the Space Act Agreement to be signed tomorrow,” Dennis Wingo, president of Moffett Field, California-based Skycorp Inc. wrote in a May 12 email. “
Keith’s note: We just passed the $116,000 $117,000 $118,000 $120,000 $121,000 $125,000 point in our crowd funding campaign. There is still much more yet to be done on this bare bones effort. First Contact is very soon. Please consider helping this project at http://rkthb.co/42228.

Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member...

13 replies on “ISEE-3 Reboot Project Passes Funding Goal”

  1. Keith: I contributed a donation yesterday – is the project an “all or nothing” proposition, or can you make it work if you are slightly under the target goal? Good luck!

      1. Marc: What is the planned mission timeline, in the sense of, “how long” does your team plan to run the new mission of ISEE-3? A lot of us armchair astronauts could set your team up with a recurring monthly contribution, which should help fund your mission plan for an extended period of time – just a suggestion to help you. Thanks!

        1. Our plan is to put the iSEE-3 into a stable orbit such that it can be operated – and produce data – for years to come. As soon as we have a stable spacecraft in its science orbit we’ll begin to work on the long term plans.

        2. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I donated and also work with instruments similar to those on that spacecraft for a living. I’d be perfectly happy to support instrument data processing and scientific analysis as a hobby once they reactivate and restart science operation. Data downlink wouldn’t be free, but I think it’s better to get that stage first and then see what can be done.

  2. Looks like you did it — about 6:50 PM Central Time or so. I checked and it had just crossed $125,000.

  4. Cowabunga!!! Surfs Up! Let’s go catch the next gravity wave!

    … some more dough too… mission operations cost … just ask MER Opportunity that is on the chopping block to save SMD some funds. ISEE-3R will be a deep-discount mission operations but still it costs.

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