![]() ![]() "I mean, it is literally sending a satellite to the other side of the Sun to resurrect the last Great Observatory. "When it comes to robotic space servicing, this would be the most ambitious thing ever done," said Shawn Usman, an astrophysicist who is the founder and chief executive of Rhea Space Activity, in an interview with Ars. The plan is rather audacious, but it has some serious backers, including the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Blue Sun Enterprises, and Lockheed Martin. Last week the firm said it won a $250,000 grant from the US Space Force to continue studying a robotic rescue mission for the spacecraft, which is now about two astronomical units-or twice the distance of Earth from the Sun-away. Or was it?Ī small space technology company, Rhea Space Activity, says it has a plan to resurrect Spitzer. This meant that operating the telescope, and having it phone home from time to time, would irreparably damage Spitzer's remaining scientific instruments.Īnd so in January 2020, after more than 16 years of service, the Spitzer Space Telescope was deactivated-consigned to drift in a heliocentric orbit until the Sun's fiery expansion at the end of its life a few billion years from now. By this time, as it drifted farther from Earth, it was close to being on the opposite side of the Sun. The space telescope continued operating until about three years ago, when the spacecraft began to overheat whenever it needed to point back toward Earth for communications. So its operators switched to "warm mission" mode, taking data from two of its shortwave channels. ![]() Without this coolant, some of Spitzer's scientific instruments were unavailable. After more than seven years, as anticipated by scientists, the onboard supply of liquid helium ran out. ![]() Over its planned five-year lifetime, the infrared space telescope performed its job well, helping astronomers discover newly forming stars, observe exoplanets, and study galaxies. It was the last of NASA's four "Great Observatories" put into space from 1990 to 2003. NASA/JPL-Caltech reader comments 173 withĪ Delta II rocket launched the Spitzer Space Telescope two decades ago, boosting it to an Earth-trailing orbit, where it drifted away from our planet at a rate of about 15 million kilometers a year. ![]()
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