Recently, NASA representatives confirmed the identification of the IMAGE satellite, newly discovered on January 20, 2018. The device, launched into orbit in 2000 to study the magnetopause, accidentally found an amateur astronomer.
Trying to understand the exact source of the signals, at the Goddard Space Flight Center used 5 separate antennas to receive radio frequency signals of the object. January 29 reported that all data complied with the characteristics of IMAGE.
On January 30, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory received information about satellite telemetry. The signal showed that the identifier of the spacecraft was 166-ID for IMAGE. NASA scientists were able to read some basic overhead, suggesting that the main control system is still functioning.
Researchers and engineers will continue to attempt to analyze the data of the device in order to understand its condition. At the end of the process will take a little more than a week, as there were difficulties with the adaptation of the old software and database to modern systems. After that, NASA will try to obtain and examine data from the signal. The decoding problem is again considered technical. The fact is that the types of operating systems used in IMAGE have not been used for a long time or have been updated to several versions.
If the decryption is successful, then NASA will try to turn on the scientific payload to check the status of the instruments. IMAGE was created to display the terrestrial magnetosphere and to obtain the first large-scale images of plasma motion. Communication lost in 2005, and in 2007 announced the completion of the mission.
