Civilians in Abandoned McDonald’s Seize Control of Wandering Space Satellite

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, SFist: Space Nerds Launch McMoon's, A Control Center In A Defunct McDonald's To Hijack A Decommissioned NASA Satellite

Civilians in Abandoned McDonald’s Seize Control of Wandering Space Satellite

By Jack Smith IV 8/08 2:38pm

For the first time in history, an independent crew is taking control of a NASA satellite and running a crowdfunded mission. They’re doing it all from a makeshift mission control center in an abandoned McDonald’s in Mountain View, California, using old radio parts from eBay and a salvaged flat screen TV.
....

{Keith} Cowing is a former NASA employee, and now runs a handful of space news sites, like NASA Watch and SpaceRef. Sitting out in the desert one night after a documentary shoot, Mr. Cowing asked Bob Farquhar, an old NASA researcher who worked with the ISEE-3 in its glory days, what it would take to bring the satellite out of retirement.
....

To start, they needed space for their control center. The neighborhood near Ames Research Center in Mountain View, once a teeming hub of activity in the days of the space race, had become a shell of its former self. ... “There were a few abandoned buildings—one was a barbershop, and one was an abandoned McDonald’s,” Mr. Cowing said. “Someone hit the barbershop with a truck, so we took the McDonald’s.”

Their new control center, dubbed “McMoon’s,” fit all of the criteria they needed: the doors locked, and it was free. For their console, they pulled a broken flatscreen TV from a government dumpster and fixed the power supply. The other pieces are from eBay, including a Mac laptop and some radio parts.

[progressoid]

1. That is just too cool.

[MisterP]

2. there are a lot of decaffeinated brands on the market today that are just as tasty as the real thing

[Plucketeer]

3. Finally....

a McDonalds that serves up something good!

[sakabatou]

7. +1

[KamaAina]

4. An abandoned McDonald's?

I'm lovin' it!

[blackspade]

5. That is awesome.

[hunter]

6. All my own technology is salvage.

Cars, computers, everything...

When the big guys are done with the international space station it would be awesome if, instead of letting it fall, they boosted it up unmanned to a longer lasting orbit using solar electric engines to serve later as a museum or experimental platform.

Maybe some future Zefram Cochrane could use it.