NASA’s ISEE-3/ICE Spacecraft Is Still Operating After 30 Years in Space

Editor’s note: I just got this note from Robert Farquhar: “At 2049 UTC on September 18, 2008, DSS-14 locked onto the carrier signal of the ISEE-3/ICE spacecraft. The remainder of the 3-hour track was then used to gather Doppler data for future use.

ISEE-3/ICE [International Sun-Earth Explorer /International Cometary Explorer] was launched on August 12, 1978, and will return to the Earth’s vicinity on August 10, 2014.

I’m excited!!

Old spacecraft never die, and so far the former Flight Director has not expired either. Let’s return ISEE-3/ICE to the halo orbit, and go on to another comet!”