Phil Karn on the reboot of the 1978 International Sun/Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3)/ (International Cometary Explorer)

Commentary by Karl Auerbach

This is an outtake from on our interview with Phil Karn.

The attempt to re-acquire the ISEE-3 satellite is both timely and representative of the “let’s try it” spirit that energized the creation of much of what became the internet.

With the help of Phil and his code the team was able to send commands to the satellite and fire the thrusters. However, there have been other issues that have, so far, prevented a full reboot. Take a look at the Wikipedia article on the International Cometary Explorer for current status.

Raw Takes

We have not yet posted the raw video and audio takes. This is several gigabytes of files. We are still exploring storage options.