NASA’s Prolonged Uninteresting ‘IMAGE’ Satellite is Alive!

Correct during the final week the placement has been dedicated to an S-band scan attempting to web original targets and refreshing the frequency checklist, triggered by the latest launch of the mysterious ZUMA mission.  This tends to be a semi-annual exercise as it may possibly eat up a gigantic selection of watching sources even with worthy of the tips gathering computerized the tips reviewing is behind.

Upon reviewing the tips from January 20, 2018, I seen a curve in step with an satellite in Excessive Earth Orbit (HEO) on 2275.905MHz, darn not ZUMA… This will not be uncommon in the route of these searches.  So I location to work to title the source.

A rapid identification scan the spend of ‘strf’ (sat tools rf) published the signal to shut aid from 2000-017A, 26113, called IMAGE.

IMAGE ‘Explain in Region!’

Discovery space above got of IMAGE and the first fit strive that lead to revealing it’s identification.

IMAGE Calling Dwelling, is Any person Listening?

I didn’t mumble of it diagram more and went about my recordsdata review attempting to web any evidence of ZUMA.  But as I reviewed one other chunk of spectrum rather decrease in frequency I became greeted by a worthy stronger carrier and what looked to be recordsdata facet bands.

The above images reveals the tips (+ 1.7MHz) at the tip of the space and the carrier centered on 2270.505MHz at the decrease stop of the space, there became also an recordsdata facet band at -1.7MHz, not proven for clarity.  With a properly equipped ground location, telemetry would without a doubt be that you just would be in a position to well well possibly mumble of to reproduction.

CLARIFICATION, January 25, 2018 – To lend a hand clarify the tips facet band observations please look the image below as the categorised STSS Demo 2, [2009-052B, 35938], mission in low earth orbit (LEO) also has an recordsdata facet band on or about IMAGE’s.  Explain the prolonged duration of the IMAGE recordsdata facet band linked to most elevation and closest attain to my ground location vs. the rather brief one from STSS Demo 2. This can even even be considered in the space above but correct will not be that determined and no identification of the indicators became presented.

So what became IMAGE?  I did a little bit Googling and chanced on that it had been ‘Lost in Region’ since December 18, 2005 after correct losing off the grid .  The mission became designed to image the magnetosphere, more diminutive print about which will even be screen in the press kit.

NASA belief of as the spacecraft a total loss attributable to a construct flaw that manifested whereas the spacecraft became in its prolonged mission.  The NASA failure review did on the choice hand attain that it became that you just would be in a position to well well possibly mumble of for the spacecraft to be revived by permitting a ‘Transponder SSPC reset’ after it passed through eclipse in 2007.  One must opt that didn’t occur in 2007 they generally gave up.

IMAGE Aloof Spinning Conclude to Operational Worth

So with an undead satellite to show screen, I took up the duty of collecting more details about it and let the machine follow it without me in the glimpse ZUMA for about a hours.  In accordance to recordsdata in the NASA failure document and eoPortal the nominal scoot payment of the spacecraft became smartly-known as spherical 0.5 rpm that’s a length of about a hundred and twenty seconds. By monitoring with my real-time receiver (seek for below) I became in a space to witness both a subtle length in the signal amplitude and frequency that looked to be coincident.

After extracting about a of the tips from the strf plots, I became in a space to invent a curve that allowed for the extraction of the latest length of the spacecraft as smartly-known in the graph below it is currently about 175 seconds or 0.34 rpm.

IMAGE Doppler Recordsdata Fits SpaceTrack TLE

Because the day progressed the Doppler recordsdata made it crystal determined this became the misplaced IMAGE mission.

A fit without performing any fit functions and the curve clearly follows the behaviour of IMAGE’s TLE as offered by SpaceTrack.

IMAGE Music from COSPAR 8049

Below is the monitoring space from my ground location for the race this recordsdata became aloof from.  As you may well well possibly seek for spherical 17:17UTC on January 20, 2018 it passed correct overhead of me establishing a ambitious signal in my omnidirection search antenna.

IMAGE Basking in the Solar

IMAGE became placed into an animated HEO with a ninety level inclination.  Periodically the spacecraft will enter an eclipse and NASA surmised that this can even location off it to restart and put collectively vitality aid to the communications machine.  That appears to be like to dangle came about!  As you may well screen from the plots below the Solar angles are currently honest appropriate for IMAGE and it also can correct stay operational for a whereas to shut aid.

IMAGE Reboot?

Like ISEE3 is it that you just would be in a position to well well possibly mumble of for IMAGE to be rebooted and managed all as soon as more?  Possibly, as it sounds as if the predominant reasons for it not calling home earlier than dangle resolved themselves a minimum of temporarily.

A couple of main questions stay referring to the successfully being of the spacecraft:

• What’s the condition of the battery designed to vitality IMAGE in the route of eclipse?
• What’s the condition of the science payloads?  Did the heaters preserve working whereas conversation became out?
• Can IMAGE aloof accept instructions and does it’s telemetry kind any sense?  I.e. has prolonged years in the harsh rental environment broken the computer techniques and other hardware attributable to extremes of temperature and radiation?

At the very least it made for an animated Saturday afternoon in the radio room.