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Mars Base

MESSENGER Solves Solar Flare Mystery - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...ger-solves-solar-flare-mystery

scibyte21 messenger sun

shared by Mars Base on 10 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • the MESSENGER spacecraft was able to capture a average-sized solar flare
  • allowing astronomers to study high-energy solar neutrons at less than 1 astronomical unit (AU) from the sun for the first time
  • Previously, only the neutron bursts from the most powerful solar flares have been recorded on neutron spectrometers on Earth or in near-Earth orbit
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • results help solve a mystery of why some coronal mass ejections produce almost no energetic protons that reach the Earth, while others produce huge amounts
  • inferred the continuous production of protons in the 30-to-100-MeV (million electron volt) range due to the flare
  • MESSENGER’s Neutron Spectrometer was able to record neutrons from this flare over a period of six to ten hours
  • at least some moderate-sized flares continuously produce high-energy neutrons in the solar corona
  • Solar flares spew high-energy neutrons into interplanetary space. Typically, these bursts last about 50 to 60 seconds at the sun.
  • forms an extended seed population in interplanetary space that can be further accelerated by the massive shock waves produced by the flares
  • another population results from the decay of the neutrons near the sun
  • About 90 percent of all ions produced by a solar flare remain locked to the sun on closed magnetic lines
  • It appears that these seed populations of energetic protons near the sun could provide the answer
  • Sometimes they’re in the right place for the shock waves to send them toward Earth
  • seed populations are not evenly distributed
  • at other times they’re in locations where the protons are accelerated in directions that don’t take them near Earth
  • Energetic protons from solar flares can damage Earth-orbiting satellites and endanger astronauts on the International Space Station or on missions to the Moon and Mars.
  • scientists need to know a lot more about the mechanisms that produce flares and which flare events are likely to be dangerous
  • At some point they hope to be able to predict space weather — where precipitation is in the form of radiation — with the same accuracy that forecasters predict rain or snow on Earth.
  • The beauty of MESSENGER is that it’s going to be active from the minimum to the maximum solar activity during Solar Cycle 24
  • observe the rise of a solar cycle much closer to the sun than ever before
Mars Base

Sun Fires Off 2 Huge Solar Flares in One-Two Punch | Space Weather | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/ge-solar-flares-erupt-sun.html

scibyte37 sun

shared by Mars Base on 07 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Tuesday
  • One of the flares is the most powerful solar eruption of the year, so far.
  • Both of the huge flares ranked as X-class storms, the strongest type of solar flares the sun can have
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • followed several weaker, but still powerful, sun storms on Tuesday
  • came just days after another major solar flare on Sunday night
  • When aimed directly at Earth, X-class solar flares can endanger astronauts and satellites in orbit, interfere with satellite communications and damage power grids on Earth
  • also amplify the Earth's display of northern and southern lights, also known as auroras
  • five categories: A, B, C, M and X. The A-class flares are the weakest sun storms, while the X-class events are the most powerful solar flares
  • subsets, from 1 to 9, to pinpoint a solar flare's strength. Only X-class solar flares have subcategories that go higher than 9.
  • most powerful solar flare on record occurred in 2003 and was estimated to be an X28 on the solar flare scale
  • The sun is currently going through an active phase of its 11-year weather cycle
  • expected to reach its peak level of activity in 2013
Mars Base

Busy Sunspot Unleashes New M-Class Solar Flare | Space Weather & Solar Storms | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/spot-eruption-solar-flare.html

scibyte38 solar flare sun

shared by Mars Base on 15 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • sun unleashed a new solar flare Tuesday (March 13) from the same region that has been actively brewing for the past week.
  • M7.9-class eruption
  • hurled a wave of plasma and energetic particles, called a coronal mass ejection (CME), into space
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • not heading in Earth's direction
  • The Solar Radiation Storm promptly reached S2 (Moderate) levels, but now should slowly decline
  • sunspot region called AR 1429,
  • already unleashed three strong X-class solar flares and several weaker M-class eruptions
  • , X-class flares from region 1429 triggered the strongest solar storm in eight years.
  • Region 1429 has been rotating across the solar disk and is no longer facing Earth
  • solar physicists will continue to monitor it and other developing sunspot regions for new outbursts.
Mars Base

A Close-up Look at the Massive Solar Storm that Shook the Sun - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...solar-storm-that-shook-the-sun

scibyte37 sun

shared by Mars Base on 08 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • large X5.4 solar flare that erupted on the Sun on March 7, 2012 at 00:28 UT, (7:28 PM EST on March 6).
  • high-definition views from the Solar Dynamics Observatory also show the subsequent solar tsunami that rippled across the Sun, appearing as though the Sun ‘shook’ from the force of the flare.
  • NASA Goddard’s Space Weather Lab and NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center say surely there will be aurorae from this blast
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • After the first big blast, about an hour later, at 01:14 UT (8:14 PM EST, March 6) the same region let loose an X1.3 class flare. An X1 is 5 times smaller than an X5 flare
  • the region had already produced numerous M-class and one X-class flare,
  • region continues to rotate across the front of the sun, so these latest flares were more Earth-facing than the previous ones
  • big blast did trigger a temporary radio blackout on the sunlit side of Earth that interfered with radio navigation and short wave radio.
  • that solar tsunami
  • waves move at over a million miles per hour
  • one side of the Sun to the other in about an hour
  • movie shows two distinct waves. The first seems to spread in all directions; the second is narrower, moving toward the southeast
  • waves are associated with, and perhaps trigger, fast coronal mass ejections, so it is likely that each one is connected to one of the two CMEs that were associated with the flares
  • Close-up Look at the Massive Solar Storm
Mars Base

Monster Sunspot Triggers Intense Solar Flares | Sun Storms | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/ot-unleashes-solar-flares.html

scibyte46 sun solar flare

shared by Mars Base on 12 May 12 - No Cached
  • unspot AR 1476 was detected by space telescopes on May 5
  • 60,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) across
  • scientists predicted the sunspot would erupt with powerful solar flares
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • So far, the sunspot has not triggered huge explosions from the sun, which scientists call coronal mass ejections.
  • Sunspot region AR 1476 was responsible for nearly all of the sun's storm activity
  • So far, the sunspot has fired off several flares, including a strong solar storm early Thursday (May 10).
  • These flares were all short-lived and there were no associated coronal mass ejections, so we do not expect any geomagnetic storms at Earth
  • It will take sunspot AR 1476 about two weeks to complete its trip across the face of the sun, as seen from Earth
Mars Base

End of the World: 10 Disasters That Could End It All At Any Given Second - Best of the ... - 0 views

botw.org/endworld.html

scibyte75 End-of-the-World

shared by Mars Base on 13 Dec 12 - Cached
  • Gamma-Ray Burst
  • Gamma-ray bursts are extremely powerful, estimated to have 10 quadrillion times more energy than our sun
  • They are created by the collision of two collapsed stars
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • it is almost impossible to visualize collapsed stars making it even more difficult to predict the location of a gamma-ray burst
  • A burst 1,000 light years from the earth (further away than most of our stars) would create an explosion as bright as our sun and bring a hasty destruction to earth
  • atmosphere and the ozone would provide protection at first it would soon be cooked away by the radiation. UV rays would kill the photosynthetic plankton in the ocean, which provide most of the earth's oxygen
  • At least one burst can be seen each day when watching our sky with gamma-ray vision; it can't be too long before there is one closer to home
  • earth's atmosphere and magnetic field protect us from the consequences of these potentially lethal flares
  • The sun emits solar flares, also known as coronal mass ejections, towards earth frequently
  • These flares are large magnetic outbursts which contain high-speed subatomic particles
  • evidence has been found that sun-like stars far from our solar system can briefly increase in brightness by 20 times
  • hypothesized that these increases are caused by super-flares, which are millions of times more powerful than the common solar flare
  • If our sun were to emit one of these super-flares it would literally fry the earth
  • if our sun's activity were to decrease by a mere 1% (which has been known to happen to many sun-like stars) we would be flung back into another ice age
  • Solar Activity (Super-Flares and Decreased Activity)
  • Particle Accelerators
  • When electric fields are used to accelerate protons they could collide at speed fast enough to create black holes or bits of altered matter
  • These small black holes would slowly engulf our planet
  • pieces of altered matter, called strangeletes, would destroy any ordinary matter they came in contact with, eventually annihilating the entire planet
  • most scientists assure that none of the particle accelerators being used at the present are strong enough to bring about these events
Mars Base

Solar Flare May Spark Weekend Northern Lights Show | Solar Flares & Northern Lights | S... - 0 views

www.space.com/kend-northern-lights-show.html

scibyte30 sun solar flare CME

shared by Mars Base on 21 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • A powerful flare erupted from the sun Thursday (Jan. 19
  • solar flare occurred at about 11:30 am EST (1600 GMT
  • coronal mass ejection
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • aimed at Earth
  • sun explosion should reach Earth by Saturday night (Jan. 21), and could amp up northern lights
Mars Base

Largest Sunspot in Years Observed on Sun | Solar Storms, Flares & Sunspots | Space Weat... - 0 views

www.space.com/unspot-years-observed-sun.html

scibyte20 sun storms

shared by Mars Base on 04 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • The massive sunspot, called AR1339, is about 50,000 miles (80,000 km) long, and 25,000 miles (40,000 km) wide
  • Earth itself is only 8,000 miles (12,800 km) wide
  • The sunspot behemoth isn't yet facing our planet, but was spotted today (Nov. 3) by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • The sunspot is actually a group of nearby darkened spots on the sun, some of which are individually wider than planet Earth
  • a huge sunspot like AR1339 comes with a large potential for solar flares
  • the spot has already produced one class M4 solar flare on Nov. 2 that was observed by SDO. A large coronal mass ejection from this flare was observed, but it was not directed toward Earth. However, as the sunspot turns toward our planet in the coming days, we may be in for a greater chance of these ejections.
Mars Base

Big Solar Storm Packed Small Punch | Solar Flare 2012 | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/solar-storm-earth-effects.html

scibyte37 sun

shared by Mars Base on 09 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • triggered weaker-than-expected disruptions
  • Early forecasts showed that the oncoming CME could boost solar radiation in space and trigger geomagnetic storms on Earth, potentially disrupting satellites, power grids and other electronic infrastructure.
  • effects of the solar tempest have been milder than scientists originally predicted
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • due to the orientation of the CME and Earth's magnetic fields
  • "If it's oriented more southward, which is opposite to Earth, then we expect a stronger storm, but it appears that this one was very much north oriented
  • orientation of the magnetic field in the CME is a big determining factor for how strong or weak the event is going to be
  • coronal mass ejection has a cloud of particles, but also embedded in that is a magnetic field structure
  • while it hasn't packed much of a punch so far, this ongoing solar storm is the largest one scientists have seen in more than five years
Mars Base

Listen to solar storm activity in new sonification video - 0 views

www.physorg.com/...-storm-sonification-video.html

scibyte38 solar flare

shared by Mars Base on 14 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • What does a solar storm sound like
  • Take a listen
  • sonification of the recent solar storm activity turns data from two spacecraft into sound
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • measurements from the NASA SOHO spacecraft and the University of Michigan's Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS) on NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft at Mercury
  • creator is Robert Alexander, a design science doctoral student at the University of Michigan and NASA fellow.
  • a composer with a NASA fellowship to study how representing information as sound could aid in data mining.
  • raw information to an audio waveform
  • To sonify the data
  • in its original sampling rate of 44,100 hertz, it played back in less than a quarter of a second
  • benefits of sonifying data. You can zip through days' worth of information in an instant
  • Sonification is the process of translating information into sound
  • used in Geiger counter radiation detectors, which emit clicks in the presence of high-energy particles
  • not typically used to pick out patterns in information, but scientists on the U-M Solar and Heliospheric Research Group are exploring its potential in that realm. They're looking to Alexander to make it possible.
  • used to looking at wiggly-line plots and graphs, but humans are very good at hearing things. We wonder if there's a way to find things in the data that are difficult to see."
  • his approach led to a new discovery
  • a particular ratio of carbon atoms that scientists had not previously keyed in to can reveal more about the source of the solar wind than the ratios of elements they currently rely on. The solar wind is a squall of hot plasma, or charged particles, continuously emanating from the sun.
  • hopes to build a bridge between science and art.
  • movies were silent and people just accepted that that's the way it
  • this high res footage of what's happening on the surface of the sun, and it's silent. I'm creating a soundtrack
Mars Base

Solar Tornadoes Dance Across Sun's Surface in NASA Video | Sun Tornado & Solar Flares |... - 0 views

www.space.com/-tornadoes-nasa-video-sdo.html

FebMedia

shared by Mars Base on 18 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • The tornado-like eruptions of super-hot plasma were spotted by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which is constantly recording high-definition videos of the sun.
  • shows swirling fountains of plasma creeping across the surface of the sun during a 30-hour period between Feb. 7 and 8.
  • unlike tornadoes on Earth, which are wind-driven phenomena, the sun's plasma tornadoes are shaped by the powerful magnetic field of our star.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • active region rotating into view provides a bright backdrop to the gyrating streams of plasma
  • particles are being pulled this way and that by competing magnetic forces
  • tracking along strands of magnetic field lines
  • cooler plasma material appears as darker spots on a bright background
  • SDO spacecraft recorded the video in the extreme ultraviolet range of the light spectrum, giving the movie an eerie yellow hue.
  • released
  • SDO video
  • mark the second anniversary
  • on a five-year mission to record high-definition videos of the sun to help astronomers better understand how changes in the sun's solar weather cycle can affect life on Earth.
  • launched on Feb. 11, 2010
Mars Base

Auroras Seen on Uranus For First Time - 0 views

news.nationalgeographic.com/...s-auroras-science-space-hubble

AprMedia scibyte43 hubble uranus

shared by Mars Base on 20 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • Two fleeting, Earth-size auroral storms were imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope as they flared up on the dayside of the gas giant in November 2011. (
  • Auroras tend to surround a planet's poles, where magnetic field lines converge and funnel incoming charged solar particles into the planet's atmosphere. There, the particles collide with air molecules, making the molecules glow
  • Scientists tried unsuccessfully to detect auroras on Uranus in 1998 and 2005
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • team learned of an impending solar storm directed toward Uranus, which sits about 2.5 billion miles (4 billion kilometers) from Earth.
  • timed their Hubble observations specifically to coincide with the solar storm, and about six weeks later, Hubble spotted the auroras flaring up in Uranus's upper atmosphere
  • the other seven planets, Uranus's magnetic axis is 60 degrees off from its spin axis
  • spin axis itself has a bizarre 98-degree tilt relative to the solar system's orbital plane
  • , the planet seems to roll around on its side as it orbits the sun.
Mars Base

Comets Disintegrate Faster on Deeper Dives Into Sun | Sun-Diving Comets | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/iving-comets-solar-system.html

scibyte41

shared by Mars Base on 02 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • Comets skimming past the sun may seem like ill-fated cosmic snowballs, and a team of scientists is trying to figure out what makes some fizzle and others explode as they make their solar death dives
  • may yield clues
  • origins of the solar system
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • shed light on the potential risks the comet deaths on the sun could pose for us on Earth
  • In recent decades, astronomers have witnessed even dramatic interactions between comets and the sun
  • researchers are analyzing how these so-called sun-diving comets lose their mass and energy depending on how close they get to the star.
  • Such data can show us for the first time what is inside a comet
  • All other data to date, apart from Jupiter impacts like Shoemaker-Levy 9, are only from the surface layers."
  • the sun's lower atmosphere. This lies about 4,350 miles (7,000 kilometers) above the top of the photosphere, the sun's brightest visible layer.
  • sunskimmer" comets — ones that dive toward the sun but not into its lower atmosphere — can slowly get vaporized by sunlight in deaths that last hundreds to thousands of seconds, depending on their mass
  • scientists calculated that the comets should emit weak but detectable extreme ultraviolet radiation.
  • sunplunger" comets that get even closer to the sun will meet their demise in only a few seconds, as they collide with the dense layers of the sun's lower atmosphere
  • most massive comets smashed into the sun, they would produce dramatic explosions just above the photosphere
  • To create their model, the scientists looked at the first direct observations of sunskimmer comets, captured last year by NASA's sun-watching Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
  • comet, C/2011 N3, was completely destroyed after passing about 62,000 miles (100,000 km) above the photosphere
  • comet, Lovejoy (C/2011 W3), survived a close approach to a similar distance of 87,000 miles (140,000 km), although it lost a significant fraction of its mass in the process
  • Both events were in line with the predictions of the researchers' new model.
  • corona is hot, but its density is so small that the heat Lovejoy experienced "would be quite safe even on our skin
  • Comet Lovejoy did pass through the sun's million-degree corona
  • Comets might help serve as probes of the sun's atmosphere and magnetic field, helping to uncover its secrets
  • cometary flares that the very largest comets might release if they slammed into the sun can be 100 times more energetic than the largest solar flares ever observed
  • Such comets are, however, very, very rare today, though they may have been commoner in the early system
Mars Base

Aurora Oddity: Northern Lights Flare Up Without Big Sun Eruption | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/e-northern-lights-display.html

scibyte34 aurora ymhs

shared by Mars Base on 18 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Northern Lights Display Dazzles Without Big Sun Flare
  • reasons scientists can't yet explain, the northern lights blazed up in a dazzling display this week
  • despite the apparent lack of a major solar flare typically associated with these celestial light shows
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • began on Valentine's Day (Feb. 14),
  • uptick in activity in Earth's magnetic field sparked a geomagnetic storm
  • Sometimes the sky surprises us
  • with little warning, geomagnetic activity rippled around the Arctic Circle
  • producing an outbreak of auroras
  • among the best in months
  • some early speculation that a Feb. 10 sun storm, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), may have triggered the northern lights show, but this solar outburst has not yet been confirmed.
  • occur when charged particles from the sun interact with Earth's upper atmosphere
  • creating ripples of glowing light
  • charged particles are funneled to Earth's poles by the planet's magnetic field
  • typically only visible to skywatchers in far northern or far southern latitudes
  • northern lights are called the aurora borealis
  • southern lights are dubbed the aurora australis
Mars Base

Curiosity sleeps as solar blast races toward Mars - 0 views

phys.org/...uriosity-solar-blast-mars.html

scibyte85 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 07 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • Scientists say a solar eruption was detected on March 5, 2013
  • headed toward Mars
  • Curiosity rover will postpone some activities but other Mars missions will operate normally
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • While the
  • rover was designed to withstand punishing space weather, its
  • decided to power it down as a precaution since it suffered a recent computer problem
  • Opportunity rover and two NASA spacecraft circling overhead carried on with normal activities
  • The eruption did not appear severe or extreme, but "middle of the road
  • was not expected to have an impact on Earth
  • Since Mars lacks a planet-wide magnetic field, it does not experience geomagnetic storms
  • the planet sees a spike in radiation
  • Powerful solar blasts can cause trouble to Mars spacecraft. In 2003, an intense solar flare knocked out the radiation detector on the Odyssey orbiter
  • In the worst-case scenario, one or more of the working Mars spacecraft may enter "safe mode" in which science activities are halted but they remain in contact with Earth.
  • The delay means it'll take longer for Curiosity to return to analyzing the pinch of rock powder it collected from a recent drilling
  • Engineers were in the middle of troubleshooting when they decided to wait for the weather to pass
Mars Base

Mars Science Laboratory: Data From NASA Rover's Voyage To Mars Aids Planning - 0 views

mars.jpl.nasa.gov/...index.cfm

scibyte96 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 03 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • Curiosity's Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) is the first instrument to measure the radiation environment during a Mars cruise mission from inside a spacecraft that is similar to potential human exploration spacecraft
  • The RAD data showed
  • indicate radiation exposure for human explorers could exceed NASA's career limit for astronauts if current propulsion systems are used.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Two forms of radiation pose potential health risks to astronauts in deep space. One is galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), particles caused by supernova explosions and other high-energy events outside the solar system. The other is solar energetic particles (SEPs) associated with solar flares and coronal mass ejections from the sun
  • NASA has established a three percent increased risk of fatal cancer as an acceptable career limit for its astronauts currently operating in low-Earth orbit
  • The findings,
  • Only about three percent of the radiation dose was associated with solar particles because of a relatively quiet solar cycle and the shielding provided by the spacecraft
  • In terms of accumulated dose, it's like getting a whole-body CT scan once every five or six days
  • Current spacecraft shield much more effectively against SEPs than GCRs. To protect against the comparatively low energy of typical SEPs, astronauts might need to move into havens with extra shielding on a spacecraft or on the Martian surface, or employ other countermeasures
  • GCRs tend to be highly energetic, highly penetrating particles that are not stopped by the modest shielding provided by a typical spacecraft.
  • RAD data collected during Curiosity's science mission will continue to inform plans to protect astronauts as NASA designs future missions to Mars in the coming decades.
Mars Base

International Cometary Explorer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/...nternational_Cometary_Explorer

scibyte132 ISEE-3

shared by Mars Base on 25 May 14 - No Cached
  • Original mission: International Sun/Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE-3)
  • to investigate solar-terrestrial relationships at the outermost boundaries of the Earth's magnetosphere
  • to examine in detail the structure of the solar wind near the Earth and the shock wave that forms the interface between the solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere
  • ...38 more annotations...
  • investigate motions of and mechanisms operating in the plasma sheets
  • continue the investigation of cosmic rays and solar flare emissions in the interplanetary region near 1 AU
  • Second mission: International Cometary Explorer
  • On June 10, 1982, after completing its original mission, ISEE-3 was repurposed. It was renamed the International Cometary Explorer (ICE)
  • The primary scientific objective of ICE was to study the interaction between the solar wind and a cometary atmosphere
  • a series of lunar orbits over the next 15 months. Its last and closest pass over the Moon, on December 22, 1983, was a mere 119.4 km above the Moon's surface. By the beginning of 1984, ICE was in heliocentric orbit
  • Giacobini-Zinner encounter
  • on a trajectory intercepting that of Comet Giacobini-Zinner.
  • On 11 September 1985, the craft passed through the plasma tail of Comet Giacobini-Zinner
  • ICE carried no cameras. It instead carried instruments for measurements of energetic particles, waves, plasmas, and fields
  • Halley encounter
  • transited between the Sun and Comet Halley in late March 1986, when other spacecraft
  • were in the vicinity of Comet Halley
  • ICE flew through the tail
  • Heliospheric mission
  • mission was approved by NASA in 1991
  • consisting of investigations of coronal mass ejections in coordination with ground-based observations
  • End of mission
  • On May 5, 1997, NASA ended the ICE mission, and ordered the probe shut down, with only a carrier signal left operating
  • Further contact
  • In 1999, NASA made brief contact with ICE to verify its carrier signal. On September 18, 2008
  • NASA, with the help of KinetX, located ICE using the Deep Space Network after discovering that it had not been powered off after the 1999 contact
  • status check revealed that all but one of its 13 experiments were still functioning, and it still has enough propellant
  • Reboot effort
  • A team webpage said, "We intend to contact the ISEE-3 (International Sun-Earth Explorer) spacecraft, command it to fire its engine and enter an orbit near Earth, and then resume its original mission...If we are successful we intend to facilitate the sharing and interpretation of all of the new data ISEE-3 sends back via crowd sourcing."
  • Sometime after NASA's interest in the ICE waned
  • A team of engineers, programmers, and scientists
  • realized that the spacecraft might be steered to pass close to another comet
  • began to study the feasibility and challenges involved
  • On May 15, 2014, the project reached its crowdfunding goal
  • which will cover the costs of writing the software to communicate with the probe, searching through the NASA archives for the information needed to control the spacecraft, and buying time on the dish antennas
  • The project then set a 'stretch' goal of $150,000
  • The project members are working on deadline: if they get the spacecraft to change its orbit by late May or early June 2014, it can use the Moon's gravity to get back into a useful halo orbit.
  • Earlier in 2014, officials with the Goddard Space Flight Center had said that the Deep Space Network equipment necessary to transmit signals to the spacecraft had been decommissioned in 1999, and that replacing it was not economically feasible
  • oject members obtained the needed hardware (power amplifier, modulator/demodulator[12]), and installed it on the 305-meter Arecibo dish antenna on May 19, 2014
  • Although NASA is not funding the project, it made advisors available and gave approval to try to establish contact
  • On May 21, 2014, NASA announced that it had signed a Non-Reimbursable Space Act Agreement with the ISEE-3 Reboot Project
  • "This is the first time NASA has worked such an agreement for use of a spacecraft the agency is no longer using or ever planned to use again," officials said
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