*If they had planned for it to still be functioning at this point, they would ha... | Hacker News

Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit

		ams6110 on Feb 8, 2014 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: ICE/ISEE-3 to return to an Earth no longer capable... If they had planned for it to still be functioning at this point, they would have maintained the capability to communicate with it. This is the key point. It completed its mission. Someone forgot to turn it off. Nobody ever expected to do anything more with it.

richardw on Feb 8, 2014 [–]

Opportunity had a planned 90-sol mission duration but continues to be useful. Maybe there isn't any useful task this bird could be used for, but I'd be surprised if the wider scientific community can't think up anything.

marshray on Feb 9, 2014 | [–]

This thing was built in the 1970's. It has no locomotive power. It aint no Mars rover.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact