ICE/ISEE-3 to return to an Earth no longer capable of speaking to it
I think I see the next natural progression in the open-source movement:<p>1)  Open-Source Software<p>2)  Open-Source Hardware<p>3)  Open-Source Spacecraft<p>So ... if NASA and the other space agencies aren't willing to make use of this spacecraft, would they be willing to cede ownership to a group of hackers dedicated to helping the hardware continue its mission?<p>I've got quite a bit of ancient hardware in my basement, and while I was a broad-band RF engineer (in the cable industry), I know the theory behind narrow-band transmission.  Anyone think we should start a Github project?<p>UPDATE:<p>It looks like the highest bit-rate that would be required would be 2048 bps:<p>"Tracking and telemetry support have been provided by the DSN (Deep Space Network) since January 1984. The ISEE-3/ICE bit rate was nominally 2048 bps during the early part of the mission, and 1024 bps during the Giacobini-Zinner comet encounter. The bit rate then successively dropped to 512 bps (on 9/12/85), 256 bps (on 5/1/87), 128 bps (on 1/24/89) and finally to 64 bps (on 12/27/91)."<p>This should be pretty easy to achieve with any UART.  Now to find the frequencies used during communication.<p>UPDATE 2:<p>I'm currently working at the Pennsylvania State University and just sent an e-mail to a friend who's the Flight Operations Team Lead of the SWIFT Mission Operation Center here (<a href="http://www.swift.psu.edu/" rel="nofollow">http://www.swift.psu.edu/</a>).  More information as I hear back from those I've contacted!