Crowdfunding as a tool for returning the ISEE-3 space probe to life

On Habré many times already wrote about various crowdfunding projects, among which sometimes there are also projects related to space. Now a project has emerged that stands out from its line of similar ones, since the goal of the project is not to create something new, but to bring the old one back to life.

Namely, the International Sun / Earth Explorer 3 ( ISEE-3 ) probe, also known as Explorer 59. The probe was designed to study the interaction of the Earth’s magnetic field and the solar wind, and, after the first stage, to study comets. The device was launched in 1978 and worked successfully until 1999. After that, NASA and ESA, working together on this project, simply “forgot” about the probe, despite the fact that it was in quite working condition. The device has completed its mission, and work with him stopped.
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Now there is a team of engineers who claims that the probe can be brought back to life, and even change its orbit by reintroducing it into a working state.



Denis Vingo and Keith Cowing, who have been working in the field of space research for a very long time, have taken up the project. Now the project team is trying to collect an amount of 125 thousand dollars , which, according to experts, should be enough to restore communication with the probe. There is no money in NASA for such work.



By the way, earlier the authors of the current project worked with the Lunar Orbiter probe, with the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP).

Really assessing the situation, the team honestly warns that there is not much chance of success, and there is very little time left. It is necessary to establish communication with the probe and take control to change the orbit. This can be done only in the period of late May - mid June. Only during this period, experts will be able to use the successful location of the moon to perform a maneuver with a probe, using the gravitational field of our natural satellite.

Communication will be established with the help of equipment, which is now in the laboratory of applied physics at Johns Hopkins University. The equipment includes an antenna with a diameter of 18 m.

Among other things, in order to establish communication with the probe, it is necessary to find old archives with the protocol for conducting communication sessions with the probe, where you can see the commands needed to control the probe. In addition, software will need to be redesigned to control the probe’s scientific instrumentation.

At the time of this writing, $ 45,212 has been collected, which is 37% of the required amount. The end of the fundraising is scheduled for May 18 of this year.

The collection is here .