TY - GEN
T1 - The 2014 Earth return of the ISEE-3/ICE spacecraft
AU - Dunham, David W.
AU - Farquhar, Robert W.
AU - Loucks, Michael
AU - Roberts, Craig E.
AU - Wingo, Dennis
AU - Cowing, Keith
AU - Garcia, Leonard N.
AU - Craychee, Tim
AU - Nickel, Craig
AU - Ford, Anthony
AU - Colleluori, Marco
AU - Folta, David C.
AU - Giorgini, Jon
AU - Nace, Edward
AU - Spohr, John E.
AU - Dove, William
AU - Mogk, Nathan
AU - Furfaro, Roberto
AU - Martin, Warren L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2014 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - In 1978, the 3rd International Sun-Earth Explorer (ISEE-3) became the first libration-point mission, about the Sun-Earth LI point. Four years later, a complex series of lunar swingbys and small propulsive maneuvers ejected ISEE-3 from the Earth-Moon system, to fly by a comet (Giacobini-Zinner) for the first time in 1985, as the rechristened International Cometary Explorer (ICE). In its heliocentric orbit, ISEE-3/ICE slowly drifted around the Sun to return to the Earth's vicinity in 2014. Maneuvers in 1986 targeted a 2014 August 10th lunar swingby to recapture ISEE-3 into Earth orbit. In 1999, ISEE-3/ICE passed behind the Sun; after that, tracking of the spacecraft ceased and its control center at Goddard was shut down. In 2013, meetings were held to assess the viability of "re-awakening" ISEE-3. The goal was to target the 2014 lunar swingby, to recapture the spacecraft back into a halo-like Sun-Earth LI orbit. However, special hardware for communicating with the spacecraft via NASA's Deep Space Network stations was excessed after 1999, and NASA had no funds to reconstruct the lost equipment. After ISEE-3's carrier signal was detected on March 1st with the 20m antenna at Bochum, Germany, Skycorp, Inc. decided to initiate the ISEE-3 Reboot Project, to use software-defined radio with a less costly S-band transmitter that was purchased with a successful RocketHub crowdsourcing effort. NASA granted Skycorp permission to command the spacecraft. Commanding was successfully accomplished using the 300m radio telescope at Arecibo. New capture trajectories were computed, including trajectories that would target the August lunar swingby and use a second AV that could target later lunar swingbys that would allow capture into almost any desired final orbit, including orbits about either the Sun-Earth L1 or L2 points, a lunar distant retrograde orbit, or targeting a flyby of the Earth-approaching active Comet Wirtanen in 2018. A tiny spinup maneuver was performed on July 2nd, the first since 1987. A 7 m/sec ΔV maneuver was attempted on July 8th, to target the August lunar swingby. But the maneuver failed; telemetry showed that only about 0.15 m/sec of ΔV was accomplished, then the thrust quickly decayed. The telemetry indicated that the nitrogen pressurant was gone so hydrazine could not be forced to the thrusters. The experience showed how a spacecraft can survive 30 years of space weather. The spacecraft flew 18 thousand km from the Moon, resulting in a heliocentric orbit that will return near the Earth in 2029.
AB - In 1978, the 3rd International Sun-Earth Explorer (ISEE-3) became the first libration-point mission, about the Sun-Earth LI point. Four years later, a complex series of lunar swingbys and small propulsive maneuvers ejected ISEE-3 from the Earth-Moon system, to fly by a comet (Giacobini-Zinner) for the first time in 1985, as the rechristened International Cometary Explorer (ICE). In its heliocentric orbit, ISEE-3/ICE slowly drifted around the Sun to return to the Earth's vicinity in 2014. Maneuvers in 1986 targeted a 2014 August 10th lunar swingby to recapture ISEE-3 into Earth orbit. In 1999, ISEE-3/ICE passed behind the Sun; after that, tracking of the spacecraft ceased and its control center at Goddard was shut down. In 2013, meetings were held to assess the viability of "re-awakening" ISEE-3. The goal was to target the 2014 lunar swingby, to recapture the spacecraft back into a halo-like Sun-Earth LI orbit. However, special hardware for communicating with the spacecraft via NASA's Deep Space Network stations was excessed after 1999, and NASA had no funds to reconstruct the lost equipment. After ISEE-3's carrier signal was detected on March 1st with the 20m antenna at Bochum, Germany, Skycorp, Inc. decided to initiate the ISEE-3 Reboot Project, to use software-defined radio with a less costly S-band transmitter that was purchased with a successful RocketHub crowdsourcing effort. NASA granted Skycorp permission to command the spacecraft. Commanding was successfully accomplished using the 300m radio telescope at Arecibo. New capture trajectories were computed, including trajectories that would target the August lunar swingby and use a second AV that could target later lunar swingbys that would allow capture into almost any desired final orbit, including orbits about either the Sun-Earth L1 or L2 points, a lunar distant retrograde orbit, or targeting a flyby of the Earth-approaching active Comet Wirtanen in 2018. A tiny spinup maneuver was performed on July 2nd, the first since 1987. A 7 m/sec ΔV maneuver was attempted on July 8th, to target the August lunar swingby. But the maneuver failed; telemetry showed that only about 0.15 m/sec of ΔV was accomplished, then the thrust quickly decayed. The telemetry indicated that the nitrogen pressurant was gone so hydrazine could not be forced to the thrusters. The experience showed how a spacecraft can survive 30 years of space weather. The spacecraft flew 18 thousand km from the Moon, resulting in a heliocentric orbit that will return near the Earth in 2029.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84937691856&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84937691856&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84937691856
T3 - Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC
SP - 4385
EP - 4393
BT - 65th International Astronautical Congress 2014, IAC 2014
PB - International Astronautical Federation, IAF
T2 - 65th International Astronautical Congress 2014: Our World Needs Space, IAC 2014
Y2 - 29 September 2014 through 3 October 2014
ER -