NASA reports that it has not only rediscovered its long-thought dead IMAGE spacecraft, but that its satellite is "fully charged" and overall "in good shape."
The U.S. space agency says it will next try to turn on IMAGE's science tools but that it needs to recreate 12-year-old software to even attempt to do so. NASA says in a statement that "this could take some time."
IMAGE was lost when NASA couldn't "establish a routine communication" with the Deep Space Network. The space agency's official report on the failure cited an unexpected error within the power system as the reason for its disappearance.
This continues to puzzle the space agency as it highlighted a couple of different factors it would be taking a closer look at. This includes trying to piece together what caused the IMAGE to power back on and send signals and why only one side of its onboard electronics is working.
"As we move forward, NASA is starting to recreate a small control center that can generate the commanding needed to better understand and control the satellite," NASA said in a statement. "This will then allow us to gain insights into the state of various science instruments, and see whether any are still functional.
"Should any of the instruments be functional, NASA will convene a panel of external scientists to assess the science potential in the context of constrained budgets for operating spacecraft."
The IMAGE spacecraft launched back in March 2000 and was "unexpectedly lost" when NASA failed to "establish a routine communication" in December 2005. All hope for the IMAGE was lost in 2007 after an eclipse failed to "induce a reboot, (and) the mission was declared over."
It remained lost at space until an amateur astronomer, Scott Tilley, found IMAGE while looking for a classified U.S. satellite.
The IMAGE spacecraft was originally launched to study the magnetosphere, which is the invisible magnetic field that surrounds the Earth. Science reports the mission was considered a success by NASA before it went missing.
The U.S. space agency reports it successfully completed its initial two-year mission in 2002, and then extended its mission before being lost.
Read Again NASA says satellite that disappeared in 2005 is fully charged, 'in good shape' : http://ift.tt/2nQXKx1CONFIRMED! The satellite re-discovered on Jan. 20 is IMAGE, a NASA mission we lost contact with in Dec. 2005! [?] [?] Full details: https://t.co/IrD4ruLedspic.twitter.com/zpI5lpXxOp
-- NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) January 31, 2018
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