Recycled Satellite Yields Scientific Treasure

Rob (not Malda) sent us this story about how UC Berkeley astronomer Derek Buzasi found that a satellite with a malfunctioning main telescope had a perfectly functional "spotting" scope that could still be used to gather valuable data. Now, because of Buzasi's inspiration, the Wide Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE) satellite NASA had written off as a $73 million piece of space trash is a useful astronomical tool that makes approximately 750,000 observations per day.