NASA attempts to contact long-lost satellite

IANS  |  Washington 

US space agency on Monday said that it's attempting to contact a satellite it lost more than a decade ago, after it was discovered possibly still alive by an earlier this month.

"We are attempting to contact the IMAGE satellite via the after an reported making contact in mid-January," tweeted.

The satellite, known as Imager for Magnetopause-to-Global Exploration (IMAGE), was launched on March 25, 2000, and contact was unexpectedly lost on December 18, 2005, reported.

It was the first dedicated to imaging the Earth's magnetosphere, the region of space controlled by the Earth's magnetic field and containing extremely tenuous plasmas of both solar and terrestrial origin.

At that time, said the most likely explanation of the failure was due to an induced "instant trip" of the solid-state supplying power to the transponder.

Earlier this month, an called wrote on his blog that he picked up a signal from a satellite labeled "2000-017A, 26113" which he knew corresponded to the IMAGE satellite.

said it has acquired time on the to focus on the source and determine whether the signal is indeed IMAGE.

"This process must take into consideration the vintage nature of the spacecraft, and includes locating and commands to potentially operate the mission," the US space agency added.

If IMAGE is revived, its orbit will be well positioned to monitor Earth's northern auroral zone, said Patricia Reiff, a at who was also a on the mission.

"It is really invaluable for now-casting space weather and really understanding the global response of the magnetosphere to solar storms," Reiff added.

--IANS

qd/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Tue, January 30 2018. 05:50 IST