ISEE-3 Status Report 23 June 2014: DSN Ranging & Spin Up Update, ISEE-3 Reboot Project “The DSN pass last week on 18 June that went from 1:45 to 2:45 Pacific Daylight time was not a success. Here is a recap of the pass activity. … Friday June 20th we were going to do the propulsion system test and spin up maneuver. However, one of our pass/fail criterion was real time […]

Are You Ready For Liftoff?, Forbes “Once the ISEE-3 campaign was launched and promoted by Sky Corp and Space Ref Interactive, 2,238 supporters weighed in, raising $160, 000, $35,000 more than the project’s goal. The project went from the improbable to the practical, and this is the transition on the forefront of every entrepreneurs mind. How can you do the same? … Is this the path for you and your […]

ISEE-3 Status Report 19 June 2014 (afternoon) Keep an eye on @ISEE3Reboot for updates Keith’s update: We had to scrub ISEE-3 spin-up burn for today. We can’t confirm receipt of commands in real time by the spacecraft. If we cannot confirm that proper commands were sent to propulsion system we cannot fire thrusters with full confidence. Remember: this spacecraft does not have a computer. All 21 dummy commands worked – […]

Keith’s note: If you go to the DSN NOW page you will see ISEE-3 (ICE) lined up ready for ranging at DSS-24 at Goldstone. Our ranging session starts at 1:45 pm PDT (4:45 pm EDT) and will last for an hour. We’ll try and post real time updates on Twitter at @ISEE3Reboot Keith’s update: We did not have any luck establishing two-way communication between ISEE-3 and DSN today. We’ll regroup […]

ISEE-3 Reboot Project Scheduled for DSN Doppler and Ranging Activity “We have received confirmation from NASA that we have been confirmed for time on the DSN (Deep Space Network) for two-way Doppler and ranging activities with the ISEE-3 spacecraft. This is being done so as to determine the location of ISEE-3 with great precision for navigation purposes. Based on this data we will conduct our course correction engine firing. We […]

ISEE-3 Reboot Project Is Already a Winner, editorial, Space News “Inspiration is a word that gets bandied about a lot in the space business, often as justification for multibillion-dollar programs that never come to fruition, let alone inspire. … Whatever the final outcome, the ISEE-3 Reboot Project has already succeeded in attracting an audience that the space community often has a hard time reaching. Credit the team, for having the […]

Detection of ISEE-3 With a 4.5 Meter Dish in Estonia “Viljo Allik, ES5PC, a member of ESTCube-1 student satellite team at Tartu Observatory, Estonia writes: “I did some receiving experiments today, both on 2217.5 MHz LHCP and 2270.4 MHz RHCP. The RHCP carrier is a few dB-s stronger than LHCP. Up to 10 dB carrier to noise can be seen in 1Hz bandwidth with my 4.5 m moonbounce dish at […]

How to Talk to a 36-year-old Space Probe (ISEE-3) with GNU Radio, a USRP, and a Big Dish, John Malsbury As many of you have probably read, the ISEE-3 Reboot Project was able to successfully send uplink commands to the space craft. This was accomplished through a lot of team work, strong leadership by Dennis Wingo, and generous support from the community at large. Balint Seeber and I were fortunate […]

This is the moment of First Contact with ISEE-3 last week at Arecibo. Austin Epps is on the left, Balint Seeber (doing the happy dance) is on the right. Dennis Wingo (on the phone) was up in the dome on the dish. Meanwhile, Keith was in his basement office answering media inquires while watching this all live via Skype, but he still took time out for his own happy dance. […]

ISEE-3 Mission Status 3 June 2014 “Telemetry we have received from ISEE-3 shows that it is spinning at 19.16 rpm. The mission specification is 19.75 +/- 0.2 rpm. We have also learned that the spacecraft’s attitude relative to the ecliptic is 90.71 degrees – the specification is 90 +/- 1.5 degrees. In addition, we are now receiving information from the spacecraft’s magnetometer.”

ISEE-3 Reboot Project Update: BULLSEYE! and More “If we can maneuver the spacecraft by June 17th we get the very small delta V number for the maneuver above. However, this starts to climb rapidly as the spacecraft gets closer to the moon. Also we cannot at this time rule out a lunar impact. It is imperative that we get a ranging pass as soon as possible. We also need time […]

We Are Now In Command of the ISEE-3 Spacecraft “The ISEE-3 Reboot Project is pleased to announce that our team has established two-way communication with the ISEE-3 spacecraft and has begun commanding it to perform specific functions. Over the coming days and weeks our team will make an assessment of the spacecraft’s overall health and refine the techniques required to fire its engines and bring it back to an orbit […]

Ever wonder what I look like with my 180 foot antennas? Here are two. Oh yes: I spin at 19 rpm too. #ISEE3 pic.twitter.com/y832xExiXa — ISEE3 Reboot Project (@ISEE3Reboot) May 29, 2014 Dennis Wingo was up in the dome when the earthquake hit Arecibo. He doesn't need any more coffee today #ISEE3 — ISEE3 Reboot Project (@ISEE3Reboot) May 28, 2014 Paperwork issues resolved earlier today. We expect a solid, unwavering, […]

Keith’s note: We have had the ability to contact the ISEE-3 spacecraft since last Friday. All hardware is in place at Arecibo and has been tested end-to-end. We are now awaiting authorization to proceed from NASA. First Contact can then happen almost immediately once our window opens. Every day we delay shortens the time available to contact the spacecraft and begin the process of understanding its condition and verifying our […]

ISEE-3 Reboot Project: Updates From the Front at Arecibo, Dennis Wingo “The error in position has just elevated the concern level greatly. We know approximately what the offset error is from the existing ephemeris but we don’t have enough information yet to plot a new course and generate a new ephemeris file. This has become extremely important as there is a solid statistical chance that the spacecraft could impact the […]

Keith’s note: Our ISEE-3 Reboot Project crowd funding campaign just ended. We raised $159,502 – 128% of our original goal. Time to wake up a disco-era spacecraft and make it do science again!

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 […]

ISEE-3 Reboot Project Hardware Detects ISEE-3 at Arecibo “The following are screenshots of data from the live receive session we did with our Ettus Research Software Defined Radio unit attached to the Arecibo antenna today (19 May). “Waterfalls” were generated by post-processing the recorded data. There are four recordings of various lengths as we were testing the setup, and this is the very, very initial result.” ISEE-3 Away Team Is […]

ISEE-3 Reboot Project Status and Schedule for First Contact, Dennis Wingo “Today’s update regards the progress of the ISEE-3 Reboot Project team in our preparations to contact the spacecraft. We started this effort 32 days ago on on April 12, 2014. Below is what we have accomplished in that time – and the challenges that lie ahead. Perhaps the toughest part of doing something like this in a very limited […]