Attempts to locate the satellite with NASA's Deep Space Network had been unsuccessful. However, by bouncing radio waves from the Arecibo observatory in Puerto Rico off the satellite, and detecting the reflections on a 70 meter radio telescope in Goldstone, California, astronomers have been able to establish SOHO's position. The signals indicate that the craft is still travelling in its original orbit but rotating at roughly one revolution per minute. However its solar panels are not pointing towards the Sun, which has left SOHO without power.

Engineers expect the solar panels to rotate slowly towards the Sun and hope that by September they will be generating enough power to make communication with the satellite possible. Some of the omens are good. In 1991 ESA recovered a satellite called Olympus under similar circumstances.