ISEE_3: NASA Spacecraft Buzzes the Moon Today After 36 Years in Space

ISEE-3, a 36-year-old NASA spacecraft will begin a new interplanetary science mission today (Aug. 10) when it makes a close pass by the moon.

The privately controlled International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 spacecraft, also called ISEE-3, will fly by the moon at 2:16 p.m. EDT (1816 GMT).

You can follow the lunar flyby live in a Google Hangout beginning at 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT) on the website SpacecraftforAll.com.

The ISEE-3 spacecraft is under the control of ISEE-3 Reboot Project, a private team of engineers took control of the probe earlier this year under an agreement with NASA.

The team initially hoped to move the NASA probe into a stable orbit near the Earth. But attempts failed when the team discovered that the spacecraft, which NASA launched in 1978, was out of the nitrogen pressurant needed to get the job done.

A vintage NASA spacecraft, the International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 launched in 1978, will fly by the moon on Aug. 10, 2014 after 36 years in space. 

The volunteer ISEE-3 Reboot Project and Google Creative Lab have teamed up to offer a live webcast of the 36-year-old spacecraft's lunar flyby. 

Credit: SpacecraftforAll.com

Now, ISEE-3 Reboot Project engineers are focusing their efforts on an interplanetary science mission, since at least some of the probe's 13 instruments are still working.

By using a network of individual radio dishes across the world, the team will listen to the ISEE-3 spacecraft for most of its orbit around the sun.

Officials announced this week that they would collaborate with Google to offer live spacecraft data at the site SpacecraftForAll.com.

Financial terms were not disclosed. Chris Lintott, of the BBC's "The Sky at Night," will moderate the Google Hangout on ISEE-3 today.

"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 currently being received from ISEE-3," co-founder Keith Cowing said in a statement.

The spacecraft was originally launched in 1978 to study the sun, and was retasked for other science missions such as looking at comets.

NASA put ISEE-3 into hibernation in 1998, where it remained until the private group reactivated it this year under a Space Act Agreement.

Members raised about $160,000 through crowdfunding, most of which is gone due to the need to rent dish time at NASA's Deep Space Network to listen in, and to fly team members to the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico for communications.

Attempt to Move NASA Probe ISEE-3 spacecraft Hits Snag

This artist's rendition shows the International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) spacecraft, the which later became Interplanetary Cometary Explorer. 

A private team, called the SEE-3 Reboot Project, is hoping to restart the 36-year-old spacecraft's engines for a new science mission.

Credit: NASA

The quest to rescue a 36-year-old NASA spacecraft will go on for at least another day, as a private group controlling the probe achieved only partial success with an engine firing Tuesday (July 8).

The private team operating NASA's International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 spacecraft (ISEE-3) aimed to fire its engine numerous times to change the probe's trajectory and put it in a more stable position for communicating with Earth but things did not go exactly as planned.

"The first segment was full duration but only partially successful," Keith Cowing, co-leader of the SEE-3 Reboot Project, wrote in a blog post Wednesday (July 9).

"The second and third attempts failed. Possible causes (under investigation) include valve malfunction and fuel supply issues."

Controllers in California, who are beaming commands to ISEE-3 via the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, tried the burns several times.

After resetting the spacecraft and sending more commands, they stopped work for the day when their "window" of communication closed.

They noted that ISEE-3's thruster valve was opening and closing as expected, but the spacecraft wasn't accelerating.

"Either we are low on fuel in System A, or latch valve A is not working," the group said via Twitter, adding that the sun guidance sensor and accelerometers were not showing thrust.

"The ISEE-3 team is working [on] a strategy for tomorrow's pass. More to follow," the team concluded late Tuesday night.



The private group took control of the spacecraft several weeks ago after raising more than $150,000 via crowdfunding and obtaining permission from NASA, which retired the spacecraft in 1997.

ISEE-3 launched in 1978 and worked as a comet chaser and sun probe, among other roles.

The team has not yet determined what to do next with ISEE-3, focusing first on making sure the spacecraft can consistently communicate with Earth.

The clock is ticking for the SEE-3 Reboot Project to change ISEE-3's trajectory; Cowing has said that fuel consumption will become an issue by late July.