Monday, July 07, 2014

36-Year-Old NASA Probe's Engines Successfully Fired Up by Private Team

The ISEE-3 is still going strong.

36-Year-Old NASA Probe's Engines Successfully Fired Up by Private Team

"NASA's International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 probe (ISEE-3), which the agency retired in 1997, performed the maneuver in preparation for a larger trajectory correction next week. The spacecraft hadn't fired its engines since 1987, ISEE-3 Reboot Project team members said.

It took several attempts and days to perform the roll maneuver because ISEE-3 was not responding to test commands. But this time, controllers got in touch. They increased the roll rate from 19.16 revolutions per minute to 19.76 RPM, putting it within mission specifications for trajectory corrections."

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