ISEE-3: An Old Friend Comes to Visit Earth

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ISEE-3: An Old Friend Comes to Visit Earth

It launched in 1978. It was the first satellite to study the constant flow of solar wind streaming toward Earth from a stable orbit point between our planet and the sun known as the Lagrangian 1, or L1. Monitoring that wind helped scientists better understand the interconnected sun-Earth system, which at its most turbulent can affect satellites around Earth.

In 1984, it was given a new mission and called the International Cometary Explorer. In September 1985, it passed directly through the tail of Comet Giacobini-Zinner, making it the first spacecraft to encounter and gather data from a comet. It also went on to fly by Comet Halley in March 1986. From 1991 until 1997, when it was too far away for reliable communications, this satellite continued to investigate the sun. Now it's coming home to visit - making its closest approach to Earth in August 2014 before it heads back out to interplanetary space

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ISEE-3 (International Sun-Earth Explorer) Orbit Top-Down View

Top-down view of the orbit of ISEE-3 (ICE) relative to the inner solar system. We see the orbit alternates with the spacecraft occasionally closer, then further from the Sun than Earth.

ISEE-3 (International Sun-Earth Explorer) was a mission launched in 1978 and was the first spacecraft to orbit the Earth-Sun L1 point.

Its primary mission complete, it was renamed the International Cometary Explorer (ICE) and its orbit was altered to measure the electrodynamic environments of comets Giacobini-Zinner and Halley. It subsequently entered a solar orbit which sent it inside and outside the orbit of the Earth. In mid-2014, its current orbit will have ICE pass close to the Earth.

Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Source: NASA - Multimedia

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ISEE-3 (International Sun-Earth Explorer) Orbit Oblique View

An oblique view of the orbit of ISEE-3 relative to the inner planets. Close-up view of the Earth flyby in mid-2014.

ISEE-3 (International Sun-Earth Explorer) was a mission launched in 1978 and was the first spacecraft to orbit the Earth-Sun L1 point.

Its primary mission complete, it was renamed the International Cometary Explorer (ICE) and its orbit was altered to measure the electrodynamic environments of comets Giacobini-Zinner and Halley. It subsequently entered a solar orbit which sent it inside and outside the orbit of the Earth. In mid-2014, its current orbit will have ICE pass close to the Earth.

Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Source: NASA - Multimedia