In 1978, NASA launched the International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) with the intent of studying solar wind streaming near Earth. In 1982 it was repurposed to study Halley’s Comet, and by 1997 NASA was neither able nor interested in keeping track of the small craft. That’s about to change: as ISEE-3 nears Earth again for a short time, NASA has signed an agreement with a group called the ISEE-3 Reboot Project that would allow them to communicate and potentially control the little space probe.

“The intrepid ISEE-3 spacecraft was sent away from its primary mission to study the physics of the solar wind extending its mission of discovery to study two comets.” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington. “We have a chance to engage a new generation of citizen scientists through this creative effort to recapture the ISEE-3 spacecraft as it zips by the Earth this summer.”

What the ISEE-3 Reboot Project aims to do is put ISEE-3 back into orbit at a gravitationally stable point (known as Lagrangian 1, or L1). Once in a stable, predictable orbit, the goal is to put the probe back into its original job roles, using its instruments as originally intended in 1978.

The Reboot Project only has a short window to work with: If they for some reason miss their chance as ISEE-3 passes in the coming weeks, ISEE-3 will move on and continue to orbit the Sun. It has not been stated when (if ever) it would again be close enough to contact.

For their part, NASA has provided the ISEE-3 Reboot project with all necessary permissions and technical documentation. The crowdfunded Reboot Project will then depend not on government obstacles, but whether or not ISEE-3’s instruments are still in good working order. If not, it’s in all likelihood destined to become space detritus.

The ISEE-3 Reboot Project is already optimistic:

“Our team members at Morehead State University, working with AMSAT-DL in Germany, have already detected the carrier signals from both of ISEE-3’s transmitters. When the time comes, we will be using the large dish at Morehead State University to contact the spacecraft and give it commands,” they wrote on their website.