Satellites switch orbits from Earth to Moon

Discovery News : Two Earth-orbiting satellites, nearing the end of their two-year design life, were given a second chance as Moon-orbiting satellites. Launched by NASA in 2007 as part of the THEMIS five-satellite mission to study how solar geomagnetic storms impact Earth, the two solar-powered spacecraft were about to spend prolonged periods in Earth’s shadow, which would have drained their batteries. A team at the University of California, Berkeley, however, was able to alter the spacecraft’s orbits enough that the Moon’s gravity started pulling them in. The first will reach a preliminary orbit in August, and the second will follow in October.