NASA to space nerds: you may now drive this space probe, BoingBoing
The space nerd coalition is raising funds to pull it off, and you can contribute here: “ISEE-3 Reboot Project by Space College, Skycorp, and SpaceRef.” Project lead Keith Cowing says, “We have passed our initial $125,000 goal – and our $150,000 ‘stretch’ goal. First Contact with ISEE-3 is imminent.”
Citizens raise $159K to reawaken NASA spacecraft, Gigaom
In 1997, NASA ordered the shutdown of the International Sun/Earth Explorer Spacecraft 3. Known as the International Cometary Explorer in its later years, the craft spent 19 years studying cosmic rays, comets and interactions between the Sun and Earth. But ISEE-3 was never actually shut down. It has leftover fuel and most of its experiments are still operational. Later this year, a band of citizen scientists wants to reawaken it to do their bidding. And they now have $159,000 and the blessing of NASA to do so.
Citizen Scientists to Resurrect Defunct NASA Spacecraft, Mashable
The group of citizen scientists from Skycorp, Inc. thought there was still life in the spacecraft and started the ISEE-3 Reboot Project. NASA officially told the group that there was no funding to support the ISEE-3 reboot effort and that it was of little formal priority for the agency, despite believing the potential data the spacecraft could generate is valuable.