End of Mission
On 1997-05-05, NASA ended the ICE mission, and ordered the probe shut down, with only a carrier signal left operating.
The ISEE-3/ICE downlink bit rate was nominally 2048 bit/s during the early part of the mission, and 1024 bit/s during the Giacobini-Zinner comet encounter. The bit rate then successively dropped to 512 bit/s (on 1985-12-09), 256 bit/s (on 1987-01-05), 128 bit/s (on 1989-01-24) and finally to 64 bit/s (on 1991-12-27).
As of January 1990, ICE was in a 355-day heliocentric orbit with an aphelion of 1.03 AU, a perihelion of 0.93 AU and an inclination of 0.1 degree. It may be possible to capture the spacecraft in 2014, when it again makes a close approach to Earth. If the craft is recovered, it has already been donated by NASA to the Smithsonian Institution.
Read more about this topic: International Cometary Explorer
Famous quotes containing the word mission:
“Every Age has its own peculiar faith.... Any attempt to translate into facts the mission of one Age with the machinery of another, can only end in an indefinite series of abortive efforts. Defeated by the utter want of proportion between the means and the end, such attempts might produce martyrs, but never lead to victory.”
—Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872)