Sun  ID: 4161

ISEE-3 (ICE) Revisits Earth

Visualizations by Tom Bridgman Released on April 14, 2014
ISEE-3 (International Sun-Earth Explorer) was a mission launched in 1978 and was the first spacecraft to orbit the Earth-Sun L1 (Wikipedia: Lagrange) point.

Its primary mission complete, it was renamed the International Cometary Explorer (ICE) and its orbit was altered to measure the electrodynamic environments of comets Giacobini-Zinner and Halley (Wikipedia). It subsequently entered a solar orbit which sent it inside and outside the orbit of the Earth.

In mid-2014, its current orbit will have ICE pass close to the Earth.
Download Options
Top-down view of the orbit of ISEE-3(ICE) relative to the inner solar system. We see the orbit alternates with the spacecraft occasionally closer, then further from the Sun that Earth.
Download Options
An oblique view of the orbit of ISEE-3(ICE) relative to the inner planets. Close-up view of the Earth flyby in mid-2014.

Visualization Credits

Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Animator
Genna Duberstein (USRA): Producer
Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Project Support
Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Project Support
Karen Fox (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Writer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4161

Data Used:
JPL/Horizon Orbital Ephemerides
Ephemeris - NASA/JPL - 2008-08-01 - 2014-08-01
Planetary ephemerides
view all stories where this data set is used
JPL DE421 also referred to as: DE421
Ephemeris - NASA/JPL - 2008-08-01 - 2014-08-01
Planetary ephemerides
view all stories where this data set is used
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Spacecraft
SVS >> Space Weather
SVS >> Heliophysics
SVS >> Solar System >> Orbits
NASA Science >> Sun
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Ionosphere/Magnetosphere Dynamics >> Solar Wind

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0