ICE is alive ! Options

[robspace54]

Fantastic! If he has access to any info on the spacecraft itself such as diagrams, photos, or 3-view drawings those would be awesome to see. Tell him I'm glad the little spaceprobe that could is still active! :-)

Rob

[stevesliva]

If you all have any questions I am sure I can get them answered by talking with her dad. He lives right down the street and they are trying to get the satellite back to do more missions and then finally put it in the Smithsonian.

There's a good question inherent in here... if they do manage to arrange another comet rendezvous, does ICE return to earth again?

[Weasle]

They have two missions planned and are discussing funding for them currently to send it to two more coments. Originally they were just going to capture it and place it in the Smithsonian.

John, my girlfriends father, he actually let me read the engineer manual / information book for ICE. And he let me look at like, 7 to 8, big old style photographs, you know the kind, 70s film picture looking.

What is the best way you think after I get them back from him, scan them just like a normal picture?

[nprev]

I'd like to know more about any putative retrieval plan. Aerobraking would seem to defeat the entire stated purpose, since it would presumably erode (and contaminate) any accreted cometary material, even assuming that the final orbit would be accessible (altitude, inclination, eccentricity, etc.) Plus, how would we get it? I can't see NASA signing off on an add-on Shuttle mission for this purpose, and nothing in the Constellation architecture seems capable of doing so.

[stevesliva]

ICE was donated to the Smithsonian during the heydey of grandiose plans for the Shuttle... I'm sure there will be no retrieval in the next couple decades. I was just curious how many decades, if it indeed flies by earth again then.

[dmuller]

I was wondering about the capture itself. Would a delta-v of 150m/s be enough to recapture ICE into Earth orbit (possibly with a Galileo-style Moon flyby)? I dont think the craft was designed for aerocapture, and aerobraking it from a highly elliptical orbit into a more normal orbit may get rid of any cometary evidence on the craft. And then the bigger question: what is going to actually capture the craft? The Shuttles supposedly stop flying 4 years before ICE returns to Earth.

Note to self: keep 2014/2015/2016 free of appointments. Will be a busy time: Dawn, Rosetta, New Horizons, possibly MSL, ExoMars, Juno ... EDIT and of course: ICE!

[dvandorn]

Note to self: keep 2014/2015/2016 free of appointments. Will be a busy time: Dawn, Rosetta, New Horizons, possibly MSL, ExoMars, Juno ... EDIT and of course: ICE!

For a moment, it sounded like you were citing an EDIT spacecraft. I figured it out quickly, but... the concept of an EDIT spacecraft is interesting. Here's a potential mission description:

"The EDIT spacecraft will be sent to a variety of celestial targets that have already been visited by other space probes. EDIT's mission is to adjust the data returned by these earlier missions to make them conform with our own theories."



-the other Doug

[robspace54]

They have two missions planned and are discussing funding for them currently to send it to two more coments. Originally they were just going to capture it and place it in the Smithsonian.

John, my girlfriends father, he actually let me read the engineer manual / information book for ICE. And he let me look at like, 7 to 8, big old style photographs, you know the kind, 70s film picture looking.

What is the best way you think after I get them back from him, scan them just like a normal picture?

Your scanner may be able to "interpret" the photo and suggest how to best scan them. Let your scanner take a shot at the suggested settings and see how they look. Really like to see some of the spacecraft!

Rob

[Weasle]

My girlfriend scanned me some, 15 to 20 pictures from the original photos taken back way back when, before I was born! lol.

They are in my email now and I will post them up when I get time later.

[Weasle]

Hmm, most of them are old files about ICE details, like scans of the original documents from NASA.

They are in adobe format so I will have to find a file sharing site or program, as now currently I only have photobucket.

[elakdawalla]

Weasle sent me the files and I zipped 'em up and am hosting them here:
http://planetary.org/emily/ISEE.zip

I won't actually have time to read them until next week, most likely...

--Emily

[robspace54]

Weasle sent me the files and I zipped 'em up and am hosting them here:

Thanks to Emily (for hosting the files), and to 'weasle' and to his gilrfriend's dad for allowing us to see these documents. Nice photo of the little space ship that could (and probably still can)!

Rob

[infocat13]

people turn off spacecraft for funding reasons......................................look at what we know now, that you can redirect existing space craft for new missions so I think a mission team can walk away from a spacecraft but please put her in powerd down mode but with transmiteer squaking or able to recieve a command.

ICE was one of the first redirecting a space craft to a whole new mission.NASA's halley comet mission had just been killed( death of Mariner mark II ?)


So..........................how much fuel is onboard?
and what is her future trajectory?
what instruments still work
sorry ICE had no imaging

[Weasle]

I believe one of those papers that are hosted details how much fuel is left. I believe her trajectory is covered in one of the articles some where on this site as well. All of the intruments work except main battery for storing solar energy, and one of her antennas are not responding. Not sure of which one, it isnt the main one though, the one on top.

Correct, ICE had no cameras.

My name is Carlos by the way, and thank you very much Emily for hosting.

I should be able to send more scans of information next week.

[robspace54]

Here is a tiny URL link - http://tinyurl.com/6quhfd - to an October 1977 NASA document with the ISEE A, B, and C press kit on pages 18 to 48.

Rob