Have you seen my undead satellite?

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

It would explain away tons of woo like John Titor and the Berebstein Bears!! And why the SHTF scenario hasn’t happened!!

A stargate is for passage only, not for altering time.

Not that I bleeb they are even possible or necessary, since the next dimension is literally all around us everywhere, one doesn't have to go to a place to 'climb' there.

That happens whenever anyone dies.

a reply to: intrptr

How about if you shove the idiots through that want to make dumb decisions?? Then the decision is not made during the timeline... crisis averted.

But we’re talking about a lost satellite. Yes, you’re correct in saying it should not be broadcasting without being asked, but it may still ping “Hey, i’ here!!”

Maybe that is what Tilley found.

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

So, here's one of the articles which I find rather laughable (in a cynical way)...

Link

To lift some selected passages from the article, a certain pattern becomes clear.

Even before it lost contact with ground control, IMAGE was already a successful mission. ...

In other words...a NASA deflection. "See? We din't do nuthin! All our stuff worked, it was that other stuff that didn't work, that other "Oh By The Way" stuff."

After it completed its two-year mission, IMAGE continued to provide NASA with valuable data and discoveries which have appeared in over 400 peer-reviewed publications and over 20 Ph.D. theses. Before it lost contact with ground control, IMAGE had already been orbiting the Earth for almost six years.

More NASA deflections. "Oh, and to you investors...this explains why you only got .10 cents on the dollar back from the insurance companies. See? You should feel pretty good about that!"

As it stands, NASA already has a mission that is currently flying in part to follow up on IMAGE's discoveries and naturally, IMAGE's full functionality and state remain to be seen. ...

In other words...since the insurance companies have already paid off, and we have another cool toy to play with instead, this amateur dude finding this thing is really pissing us off!

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

But we’re talking about a lost satellite. Yes, you’re correct in saying it should not be broadcasting without being asked, but it may still ping “Hey, i’ here!!”

Maybe that is what Tilley found.

Back to my earlier point then, if its transmitting a signal NASA would know that.

There are no mystery signals out there...

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

But we’re talking about a lost satellite. Yes, you’re correct in saying it should not be broadcasting without being asked, but it may still ping “Hey, i’ here!!”

Maybe that is what Tilley found.

Back to my earlier point then, if its transmitting a signal NASA would know that.

There are no mystery signals out there...

It wasn't transmitting anything for a long time after the loss of operations, so no one was trying to listen in. At some point, it started transmitting again, and that's how that amateur guy found it.

It is not known when the satellite started broadcasting, but re-examination of old data recorded by Tilley and fellow satellite tracker Cees Bassa showed transmissions from IMAGE in May 2017 and October 2016.

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: wildespace

It wasn't transmitting anything for a long time after the loss of operations, so no one was trying to listen in. At some point, it started transmitting again, and that's how that amateur guy found it.

Mmm hmm, and SETi isn't monitoring a zillion frequencies from space. NASA Langleys electronic eavesdropping spy game room is more sophisticated.

How can you be covering for them unless you have an inside knowledge of what they are and are not monitoring?

UPDATE

NASA MAKES PROGRESS WITH LOST SATELLITE: Using 5 antennas to establish contact, NASA engineers have confirmed beyond doubt that a spacecraft found earlier this month by amateur astronomer Scott Tilley is indeed IMAGE, an important space weather satellite lost since 2005. Now they are attempting to regain control. Talking to IMAGE is a challenge due to the passage of time: Types of hardware and operating systems used when IMAGE was built no longer exist, requiring significant reverse-engineering.

spaceweather.com (main page)

What, you cannot just turn to Lt. Uhura and tell her to access the legacy NASA frequencies?!?!

Having been part of legacy IT system retirements and the need for legal discovery of said systems, the process is rather cumbersome but doable. Glad to hear that they have confirmation that it is IMAGE.

NASA has made first contact with a dead satellite! Now... how about the other kind?!

So why all the hedging ArsTechnica?? "Beyond doubt...", now to see how the rest of the story unfolds!

PS - ArsTechnica is already on to other stories! Spacewather.com is your friend.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I think you nailed it! It boils back down to money. The insurance paid out for a totaled car but some guy in a junk yard figured out how to make it run again. Now NASA is saying their car is not a total loss... how convenient for them!

"actively transmitting data"
NASA says its dead! cow poop!
its a SPY satellite.

NASA says! it tracks ALL big objects!
but totaly lost this satellite.
who belive that???

a reply to: buddha

It was imaging the aurora. It actually worked for a number of years. About 5 years in it died. The part that supplies power to the transmitter failed. It was not broadcasting anything. It was not receiving anything.

Two years later, they tried a "systems reset" (of a kind) by draining the batteries to trigger a fail-safe mode so when the solar panels started charging the batteries again they would "recover" their satellite. That failed. You could still track it as it orbited but there was no communication with it. For all intents it was dead.

The radio antenna was used to track it while searching for a "real, genuine, spy satellite" called Zuma. In fact, the radio frequency, position, and speed were entered into a computer that tracks orbiting objects, which came back with this as a known object, IMAGE, NASA's "lost" (as in "no longer functioning") satellite.

It has now been confirmed that the satellite is indeed IMAGE. Also, that it sending out a signal, which could be as meaningless as, "Breaker, breaker, 19, anybody got your ears on?" That part is being worked on. As noted, the actual tracking station was decommissioned. They are "rebuilding" a method to communicate with it by using old technology (more likely, they are using virtual computers loaded with their old software).

Here is how NASA explained what they are trying to do and some of the complication they are encountering:

Since Tilley’s announcement, project scientists spent a couple days furiously digging up old software and records, and this weekend, NASA will attempt to contact IMAGE with its deep space radio antennas—as will the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, and researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. Right now, the team is puzzled as to why it appears the spacecraft’s rotation rate has slowed, which may make communication more challenging. “The team is collectively holding their breath waiting for some real information exchange between IMAGE and the ground,” Reiff adds.

Gizmodo.com - Over a Decade Later, NASA's Long-Dead IMAGE Satellite May Have Come Back to Life.

This story is still happening!

I think if an ordinary citizen manages to get an old funky satellite working again, he should get to keep it.

a reply to: Blue Shift

I would ask that the space parking meter be paid, in full, be used as my finder fee!

Let's see, 39.8 million to build. 1 million a year to operate. Around 45 million spent on IMAGE. I would really ask for the customary 10% finders fee. Plus the zombie years too!

Tilley will probably only get for his troubles, "Finding a lost NASA satellite?... Priceless"

ETA: Cool sub-website on nasa.gov with IMAGE info: The NASA I.M.A.G.E Satellite.

It uses a 32-bit RISC CPU! I wonder if that means they Specter and Meltdown firmware upgrades?!!

originally posted by: TEOTWAWKIAIFF
Tilley will probably only get for his troubles, "Finding a lost NASA satellite?... Priceless"

Ten percent is a reasonable "taste." Yeah, at most he'll get a laurel and hardy handshake.

"On the afternoon of Jan. 30, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Maryland, successfully collected telemetry data from the satellite," NASA officials said in a statement. "The signal showed that the space craft ID was 166 — the ID for IMAGE. The NASA team has been able to read some basic housekeeping data from the spacecraft, suggesting that at least the main control system is operational."

"Scientists and engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will continue to try to analyze the data from the spacecraft to learn more about the state of the spacecraft," agency officials said in the statement. "This process will take a week or two to complete as it requires attempting to adapt old software and databases of information to more modern systems."

Space.com, Jan. 31, 2018 - Signal Detected by Amateur Astronomer Came from Long-Lost Satellite, NASA Confirms.

It has been sending out its ID! Looks like the main control system is working so I wonder how long before they can send it some commands to check out other functions?

I hope it is salvageable! Looks like there is more waiting involved.

originally posted by: TEOTWAWKIAIFF
a reply to: smurfy

The spaceweather article says that NASA is searching for their archived computer programs for all the shell scripts and what have you, to try get in contact. This is a still developing story.

A post mortem in IT is pretty intense so I can only imagine what happens when your millions of dollars satellite dies. The orbit has not decayed too much, so they have some time.

Why does that remind me of Veeger contacting its maker??

Veeger and its maker joined nicely to create a new species, could it be called progress?

a reply to: InTheLight

"It's been while since I delivered a baby! I hope it's off to a good start!"



It would be cool if they do get an operational satellite back. Tilley gets mad street cred for not only pinging it with a radio source but tracking it back to IMAGE. That would look really good on your resume! That they confirmed it by receiving the ID is really rocking news! I guess it is more a "re-birth" rather than a zombie. Which is progress!

originally posted by: TEOTWAWKIAIFF
a reply to: InTheLight

"It's been while since I delivered a baby! I hope it's off to a good start!"

It would be cool if they do get an operational satellite back. Tilley gets mad street cred for not only pinging it with a radio source but tracking it back to IMAGE. That would look really good on your resume! That they confirmed it by receiving the ID is really rocking news! I guess it is more a "re-birth" rather than a zombie. Which is progress!

Tilley put his re-discovery aside for a bit. But as he switched to other frequencies, he found that IMAGE was actively transmitting data.

So, if it went silent in 2005 and has been transmitting since, is all that 13 years of data lost now, or has it downloaded it as well?

What IF!
it did die crash't.
so they put a spy sat with the secret shutle?

now that its been found they will have to lose it again...

a reply to: buddha

so they put a spy sat with the secret shutle

Yep. I'm pretty sure that's what happened.

a reply to: InTheLight

They tried the reset in 2007. It was dead for 2 years. The data wasn’t being collected (most likely) and if it was they could not transmit it back. The term used is “lost” but it is not because they could not find it but more like, “lost cause.”

At some point, for some unknown reason, it did reset! The guy looking for the spy satellite finds something. Like stated earlier, there’s lots of stuff up there. He found something but so what, what did he find (he was searching for a spy satellite). He checks other frequencies and the “dead” satellite is showing its ID to anybody passing by! Only he can’t decode the signal. The orbital mechanics tag it as the dead NASA satellite.

Now, they (NASA) are trying to see if they can communicate with it. The tech has changed so much it is difficult to do! And we wait.

Unless you don’t trust NASA to tell the truth!