After several attempts, the project team ISEE-3 Reboot announced that it managed to run the thrusters of the ISEE-3 (International Sun / Earth Explorer 3) space probe, also known as ICE (International Cometary Explorer). On July 2, the team was able to activate the thrusters but then they gave no other signs of life. After several days of trying to identify the problem, this probe now 36 years old seems to really go back to being operational.

The project ISEE-3 Reboot was launched to try to reuse the old ISEE-3 spacecraft, which was coming back near the Earth after completing its missions and being wandering in space for nearly 20 years. In May, the beginning of the project was promising and the team was able to re-establish communications with ISEE-3 but later things became more complicated. At one point, there was a serious fear of having to abandon the hope of being able to control the probe.

The project ISEE-3 Reboot team spent the month of June using the limited time available with the Deep Space Network to communicate with the ISEE-3 spacecraft. The plan was to ensure that it responded to the commands correctly and then activate its thrusters. It took longer than expected because in some days communications were difficult and at times the team had less than an hour to attempt them.

Finally, on July 2, the ISEE-3 probe accepted the command that briefly fired its thrusters. In the following days, however, the next attempts to move ISEE-3 failed. After several troubleshooting attempts, the team turned to the Internet community, affectionately called the Borg, for a collective analysis of the situation.

The ISEE-3 Reboot project is followed by many fans, however they generally don’t have specific skills. Instead, some have in-depth knowledge of spacecraft and helped the project team to identify the possible causes of the problem. For a few days, the team tried various combinations of valves of the propulsion system to find the correct way to activate them and eventually had at least a partial success.

In the coming days, the team will assess the extent to which it will be possible to control the trajectory of the ISEE-3 probe. Depending on what they can achieve, they’ll decide the new mission for ISEE-3. Its solar panels work better than they expected after so many years so they’re very hopeful of being able to use the probe for some scientific research.

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