![[IOP]](http://images.iop.org/cws/icons/themes/phw/colophon-small.png){kind=icon}
"This is the best news I've heard since we lost contact with SOHO" says Roger
Bonnet,
ESA's director of science. "We should just hope that the damage sustained
by SOHO's enforced period of deep freeze does not affect the scientific payload too
much." SOHO is a $1 billion joint venture between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA to
observe the Sun in unprecedented detail. Scientists were hoping to extend SOHO's life
until 2003 to cover an upcoming period of maximum solar activity. However,
contact
with the craft was lost on June 25 when a programming error caused the craft to spin
out of control.
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Scientists hail SOHO
Aug 14, 1998
Scientists have finally been able to contact the out-of-control Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), which went missing in June. After receiving sporadic information from the spacecraft, engineers managed to send radio commands to divert power from the solar array to SOHO's on-board batteries. The craft had previously been drained of power when its arrays had moved away from the Sun. After the batteries had been recharged, NASA officials persuaded the craft to send details of its system status. The next obstacle in the craft's recovery will be to thaw out SOHO's frozen fuel tanks.
