International Cometary Explorer

International Cometary Explorer
	ICE satellite
Names	ISEE-3; International Sun-Earth Explorer-C; Explorer 59
Mission type	Magnetospheric research; ISEE-3: Sun/Earth L1 orbiter; ICE: 21P/G-Z and Halley fly-by
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	1978-079A
SATCAT no.	11004
Mission duration	Launch to last routine contact:; 18 years, 8 months, 22 days; Launch to last contact:; 36 years, 1 month, 3 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Explorer LIX
Spacecraft type	International Sun-Earth Explorer
Bus	ISEE
Manufacturer	Fairchild Industries
Launch mass	479 kg (1,056 lb)
Dry mass	390 kg (860 lb)
Dimensions	1.77 × 1.58 m (5 ft 10 in × 5 ft 2 in)
Power	173 watts
Start of mission
Launch date	12 August 1978, 15:12 UTC
Rocket	Thor-Delta 2914; (Thor 633 / Delta 144)
Launch site	Cape Canaveral, SLC-17B
Contractor	Douglas Aircraft Company
Entered service	12 August 1978
End of mission
Deactivated	5 May 1997
Last contact	16 September 2014
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Heliocentric orbit
Perihelion altitude	0.93 AU (139,000,000 km; 86,000,000 mi)
Aphelion altitude	1.03 AU (154,000,000 km; 96,000,000 mi)
Inclination	0.10°
Period	355 days
Instruments
	Solar Wind Plasma Experiment
	Helium Vector Magnetometer
	Low Energy Cosmic Ray Experiment
	Medium Energy Cosmic Ray Experiment
	High Energy Cosmic Ray Experiment
	Plasma Wave Instrument
	Low Energy Proton Experiment
	Cosmic Ray Electrons and Nuclei
	X-Rays and Electrons Instrument
	Radio Mapping Experiment
	Plasma Composition Experiment
	Heavy Isotope Spectrometer Telescope
	Ground-Based Solar Studies Experiment
	Explorer program ← Heat Capacity Mapping Mission Explorer 60 →

The International Cometary Explorer (ICE) spacecraft, designed and launched as the International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) satellite, was launched on 12 August 1978 into a heliocentric orbit. It was one of three spacecraft, along with the mother/daughter pair of ISEE-1 and ISEE-2, built for the International Sun-Earth Explorer (ISEE) program, a joint effort by NASA and ESRO/ESA to study the interaction between the Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind.

ISEE-3 was the first spacecraft to be placed in a halo orbit at the L₁ Earth-Sun Lagrange point.^[2] Renamed ICE, it became the first spacecraft to visit a comet,^[3] passing through the plasma tail of comet Giacobini-Zinner within about 7,800 km (4,800 mi) of the nucleus on 11 September 1985.^[4]

NASA suspended routine contact with ISEE-3 in 1997 and made brief status checks in 1999 and 2008.^[5]^[6]

On 29 May 2014, two-way communication with the spacecraft was reestablished by the ISEE-3 Reboot Project, an unofficial group,^[7] with support from the Skycorp company and SpaceRef Interactive.^[8]^[9]^[10] On 2 July 2014, they fired the thrusters for the first time since 1987. However, later firings of the thrusters failed, apparently due to a lack of nitrogen pressure in the fuel tanks.^[11]^[12] The project team initiated an alternative plan to use the spacecraft to "collect scientific data and send it back to Earth",^[13] but on 16 September 2014, contact with the probe was lost.^[14]

^ "ISEE-3/ICE". NASA's Solar System Exploration website. Retrieved 30 November 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ "ISEE-3/ICE". Solar System Exploration. NASA. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ Siddiqi, Asif A. (2018). Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016 (PDF). The NASA history series (second ed.). Washington, D.C.: NASA History Program Office. p. 2. ISBN 9781626830424. LCCN 2017059404. SP2018-4041. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ Stelzried, C.; Efron, L.; Ellis, J. (July–September 1986). Halley Comet Missions (PDF) (Report). NASA. pp. 241–242. TDA Progress Report 42-87. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ Robertson, Adi (23 May 2014). "Spaceship come home: can citizen scientists rescue an abandoned space probe?". The Verge. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
^ McKinnon, Mika (15 April 2014). "Can This 1970s Spacecraft Explore Again?". space.io9.com. Archived from the original on 11 September 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
^ "We do NOT like..." Twitter.com. 25 June 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
^ Geuss, Megan (29 May 2014). "ISEE-3 spacecraft makes first Earth contact in 16 years". Ars Technica. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
^ Matheson, Dan (May 2014). "Citizen-scientists look to reboot 35-year-old spacecraft". CTV News. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
^ Chang, Kenneth (15 June 2014). "Calling Back a Zombie Ship From the Graveyard of Space". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
^ McKinnon, Mika (10 July 2014). "Distributed Rocket Science is a Thing Now". space.io9.com. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
^ Cowing, Keith (18 July 2014). "Lost and Found in Space". The New York Times. The Opinion Pages. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
^ Chang, Kenneth (9 July 2014). "Space Probe Might Lack Nitrogen to Push It Home". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
^ Cowing, Keith (25 September 2014). "ISEE-3 is in Safe Mode". Space College. Retrieved 7 October 2014. The ground stations listening to ISEE-3 have not been able to obtain a signal since the 16 September 2014

[1] "ISEE-3/ICE". NASA's Solar System Exploration website. Retrieved 30 November 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[nasa_sse-2] "ISEE-3/ICE". Solar System Exploration. NASA. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[3] Siddiqi, Asif A. (2018). Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016 (PDF). The NASA history series (second ed.). Washington, D.C.: NASA History Program Office. p. 2. ISBN 9781626830424. LCCN 2017059404. SP2018-4041. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[4] Stelzried, C.; Efron, L.; Ellis, J. (July–September 1986). Halley Comet Missions (PDF) (Report). NASA. pp. 241–242. TDA Progress Report 42-87. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[verge20140523-5] Robertson, Adi (23 May 2014). "Spaceship come home: can citizen scientists rescue an abandoned space probe?". The Verge. Retrieved 26 June 2014.

[io9-20140415-6] McKinnon, Mika (15 April 2014). "Can This 1970s Spacecraft Explore Again?". space.io9.com. Archived from the original on 11 September 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2014.

[7] "We do NOT like..." Twitter.com. 25 June 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014.

[ars20140529-8] Geuss, Megan (29 May 2014). "ISEE-3 spacecraft makes first Earth contact in 16 years". Ars Technica. Retrieved 31 May 2014.

[9] Matheson, Dan (May 2014). "Citizen-scientists look to reboot 35-year-old spacecraft". CTV News. Retrieved 31 May 2014.

[NYT-20140615-10] Chang, Kenneth (15 June 2014). "Calling Back a Zombie Ship From the Graveyard of Space". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 June 2014.

[ISEE3-20140710-11] McKinnon, Mika (10 July 2014). "Distributed Rocket Science is a Thing Now". space.io9.com. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2014.

[NYT-20140718-12] Cowing, Keith (18 July 2014). "Lost and Found in Space". The New York Times. The Opinion Pages. Retrieved 18 July 2014.

[NYT-20140709-13] Chang, Kenneth (9 July 2014). "Space Probe Might Lack Nitrogen to Push It Home". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 July 2014.

[lost-14] Cowing, Keith (25 September 2014). "ISEE-3 is in Safe Mode". Space College. Retrieved 7 October 2014. The ground stations listening to ISEE-3 have not been able to obtain a signal since the 16 September 2014

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