Civilian Scientists Get ISEE-3 Satellite Engines to Fire!

We got 2 pulses out of thruster K. Waiting to reset the sector & fire K again – 2x – to dampen out angle induced by earlier burn #ISEE3

— ISEE3 Reboot Project (@ISEE3Reboot) July 18, 2014

The amazing people behind the ISEE-3 reboot project have gotten its engines to fire! They previously had trouble due to a lack of nitrogen to push fuel through the old satellite’s fuel lines and into the engines, but some creative use of the satellite’s tank heaters seems to have paid off and gotten things working.

They’ve been live tweeting the whole thing, so you can catch up on everything they’ve been up to on their Twitter feed. 

Following @ISEE3Reboot is like watching a space thriller 140 characters at a time. — Josh Butts (@jimbojsb) July 16, 2014

Sent revised command sequence to turn tank heaters on. Accepted. #ISEE3

— ISEE3 Reboot Project (@ISEE3Reboot) July 16, 2014

The fact that we did not get much of an increase in tank temps is an indication of the presence of fuel #ISEE3 — ISEE3 Reboot Project (@ISEE3Reboot) July 16, 2014

Looks like thruster K fired. Looking to reconfigure and fire it again #ISEE3 — ISEE3 Reboot Project (@ISEE3Reboot) July 18, 2014 

We just got a pulse from one engine. Hmm … #ISEE3 — ISEE3 Reboot Project (@ISEE3Reboot) July 18, 2014

Every time we nudge #ISEE3 to do things we learn more about its quirks. We still have time to wade through this and find the F=MA magic. — ISEE3 Reboot Project (@ISEE3Reboot) July 17, 2014

Keep poking around up there, guys. It’s made my Twitter feed a lot more exciting.

(via ISEE-3 Reboot on Twitter, featured image via ISEE-3 Reboot)

Previously in ISEE-3 Reboot mission

• They can still use the satellite whether the engines work or not
• We were pretty excited when they first made contact
• If NASA doesn’t want ISEE-3 anymore, we’ll take it

Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?