Spitzer goes “Beyond” for final mission

Beyond is the name given to the final 30-month mission extension of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Starting in October, the veteran instrument will carry out new observations in astronomy, cosmology, and the search for planets beyond the Solar System.

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CrazyNeutrino said:

Spitzer goes “Beyond” for final mission

Beyond is the name given to the final 30-month mission extension of NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Starting in October, the veteran instrument will carry out new observations in astronomy, cosmology, and the search for planets beyond the Solar System.

more…

Good link! Best quality news article I’ve seen in a very long time.

> Launched on August 25, 2003 atop a Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex 17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, the infrared observatory went into a heliocentric orbit trailing the Earth. Due to its slower orbital speed, it drifts away from the Earth’s orbit at about 0.1 astronomical units (9.3 million mi, 15 million km) per year.

I had totally forgotten that. So after 13 years it’s drifted 75 degrees along the arc of the Earth’s orbit. After 63 or so years it would come back to Earth.

> the latter two required constant cooling with liquid helium to work, which ran out in 2009

Yep. Spitzer is NASA’s most successful dead spacecraft.

Another aspect of this, that I’d totally failed to realise, is that Spitzer can view transient events on the far side of Sun from Earth, events such as GRBs, comets and supernovae. There are very few spacecraft and no telescopes on Earth that can do that.

> “We never even considered using Spitzer for studying exoplanets when it launched, It would have seemed ludicrous back then, but now it’s an important part of what Spitzer does.”

Agree.

> However, NASA says that Spitzer’s life extension is not without challenges. Because the telescope is drifting away from Earth, the increasing distance means that the spacecraft’s antenna needs to be pointed at a higher angle. This not only exposes the telescope to more sunlight and more heat, but means that the solar panels don’t get as much light, which puts stress on the batteries. It also means that NASA has to override Spitzer’s safety cutouts to prevent it from going into safe mode.

OK. That makes me sad. Like mourning the imminent death of a friend.

> NASA says that Spitzer will continue its Beyond mission until the James Webb Space Telescope completes it commissioning phase after its scheduled 2018 launch.