An abandoned NASA satellite has been taken over by a group of amateur programmers, the Wire reported.
Ever since NASA left the ISEE-3 idle almost 17 years ago, the 36-year-old satellite has been floating through space.
However, a group of engineers and computer programs decided to take over the satellite and set it off on a new mission. Now, two-way contact has been made via the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico and the amateurs are "in command" of the satellite.
Launched in 1978, the International Solar-Environment Explorer took a years-long journey to the sun before being turned into a comet hunter,
After the satellite's mission was ended by NASA in 1997, it has been floating aimlessly in space.
"Earlier this year, a group of scientists decided to try and contact ISEE again, reboot it, and give it a new mission," the Wire reported. "NASA gave its blessing to the project, but had no money to fund it, so the ISEE-3 Reboot Project raised $160,000 through the crowdfunding site, RocketHub."
After receiving the money, the satellite is completely under their control. But the toughest phase is still to arrive.
Scientists are now trying to get the satellite back to Earth.
"Over the coming days and weeks our team will make an assessment of the spacecraft's overall health and refine the techniques required to fire its engines and bring it back to an orbit near Earth."
According to the Wire, staffers at Arecibo, the University of Kentucky, and of course, NASA have been working on the project. Most of the employees have ended up donating their free time to the project.
"If and when they get the satellite back closer to Earth, there will be a lot of investigating to do - that's why they plan to crowdsource the massive amounts of data analysis too," the Wire reported.
