NASA’S HIGHLY EXPERIMENTAL Earth Observing-1 satellite mission was supposed to last just a year. It did that, and then survived 16 more—all the while testing NASA’s riskiest, oddball ideas. It’s been a proving ground for everything from multi- and hyperspectral imagers, to a self-piloting AI. But EO-1 is finally out of fuel, and at the end of the month the craft’s operating team will close up shop. Already out of fuel, EO-1 itself will continue to slowly shuffle off its orbital coil until it burns up in Earth’s atmosphere. Such is the life of an expendable spacecraft. And while that may make EO-1’s team a little misty eyed, funding these high risk, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯—reward missions—and letting them thrive or burn up as they may—is all part of the life cycle for innovative orbital science.

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