Space telescopes Space telescopes The first of NASA's three High Energy Astronomy Observatories, HEAO 1 was launched aboard an Atlas Centaur rocket on 12 August 1977 and operated until 9 January 1979. During that time, it scanned the X-ray sky almost three times over 0.2 keV - 10 MeV, provided nearly constant monitoring of X-ray sources near the ecliptic poles, as well as more detailed studies of a number of objects through pointed observations. ...more on Wikipedia about "1st High Energy Astrophysics Observatory"
Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) is an Explorer satellite mission to study matter in situ, comprising energetic particles from the solar wind, the interplanetary medium, and other sources. It was launched in 1997 and is currently operating at the L1 Lagrange point. ...more on Wikipedia about "Advanced Composition Explorer"
ASCA (formerly named Astro-D) is Japan's fourth cosmic X-ray astronomy mission, and the second for which the United States is providing part of the scientific payload. The satellite was successfully launched February 20, 1993. ...more on Wikipedia about "Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics"
The Array of Low Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors (ALEXIS) X-ray telescopes feature curved mirrors whose multilayer coatings reflect and focus low-energy X-rays or extreme ultraviolet light the way optical telescopes focus visible light. The satellite and payloads were funded by the Department of Energy and built by Los Alamos National Laboratory in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories and the University of California-Space Sciences Lab. The Launch was provided by the Air Force Space Test Program on a Pegasus Booster on April 25, 1993. The mission is entirely controlled from a small groundstation at LANL. ...more on Wikipedia about "Array of Low Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors"
ASTRO-E and ASTRO-EII (or Astro-E2) are Japanese X-ray astronomy satellites built primarily by JAXA. In 2000 the Astro-E launch failed (with the satellite falling into the ocean), so a replacement called Astro-EII was launched on July 10, 2005. Astro-EII has high spectroscopic resolution together with a very wide energy band, ranging from soft X-rays up to gamma-rays (0.3--600 keV). High resolution spectroscopy and wide-band are essential factors to physically investigate high energy astronomical phenomena, such as black holes and supernovae. After a successful launch, ASTRO-EII was nicknamed Suzaku which means "red bird of the south." ...more on Wikipedia about "ASTRO-E"
Astron was a Soviet astrophysical spacecraft launched on March 23 1983. It was based on Venera spacecraft design. Astron was operational for six years being the largest ultraviolet space telescope of that time. ...more on Wikipedia about "Astron (spacecraft)"
The Broad Band X-ray Telescope (BBXRT) was flown on the space shuttle Columbia ( STS-35) on 1990 December 2- December 11, as part of the ASTRO-1 payload. The flight of BBXRT marked the first opportunity for performing X-ray observations over a broad energy range (0.3-12 keV) with a moderate energy resolution (typically 90 eV and 150 eV at 1 and 6 keV, respectively). ...more on Wikipedia about "Broad Band X-ray Telescope"
Chandra X-ray Observatory is a satellite launched on STS-93 by NASA on July 23, 1999. It was named in honor of Indian- American physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar who is known for determining the mass limit for white dwarf stars to become neutron stars. " Chandra" also means "moon" or "luminous" in Sanskrit. ...more on Wikipedia about "Chandra X-ray Observatory"
(COBE)
The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) was the second of the NASA " Great Observatories" to be launched to space, following the Hubble Space Telescope. ...more on Wikipedia about "Compton Gamma Ray Observatory"
Constellation-X, the Constellation X-ray Mission (formerly HTXS, the High Throughput X-ray Spectroscopy program) is a Next Generation X-ray Observatory dedicated to observations at high spectral resolution, providing as much as a factor of 100 increase in sensitivity over currently planned high resolution X-ray spectroscopy missions. ...more on Wikipedia about "Constellation-X"
COROT (COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits) is a space mission approved and led by the French Space Agency (CNES) in conjunction with the European Space Agency. The primary objective of Corot will be to search for extrasolar planets, particularly those of large terrestrial size. It is due to be launched in October, 2006 and will be the first mission of its kind. ...more on Wikipedia about "Corot (space mission)"
Cos-B was a satellite mission to study gamma-ray emissions from stars and other objects. The mission was launched on August 30 1975 and was completed on April 25 1982, after being operational for more than 6.5 years, four years longer than planned. The scientific contributions include the 2CG Catalogue listing around 25 gamma ray sources and a map of the Milky Way. It also observed the Cygnus X-3 pulsar. ...more on Wikipedia about "Cos-B"
Darwin is a proposed European Space Agency (ESA) mission designed to directly detect Earth-like planets orbiting nearby stars, and search for evidence of life on these planets. The launch date will be at or after 2014. The current design envisions six telescopes, each 1.5 meters diameter, flying in formation. In addition, two auxiliary spacecraft would be needed, one to combine the light from the six telescopes and measure the resulting optical signal, and one to handle communications with Earth. As well as studying extrasolar planets, the instrument will probably have a general purpose imaging mode which will produce very high resolution (i.e. milliarcsecond) infrared images, allowing detailed study of a variety of astrophysical processes. ...more on Wikipedia about "Darwin (ESA)"
The Exosat satellite was operational from May 1983 until April 1986 and in that time made 1780 observations in the X-ray band of most classes of astronomical object including active galactic nuclei, stellar coronae, cataclysmic variables, white dwarfs, X-ray binaries, clusters of galaxies, and supernova remnants. The payload consisted of three instruments that produced spectra, images and light curves in various energy bands. ...more on Wikipedia about "EXOSAT"
The Extreme Universe Space Observatory - EUSO is the first Space mission devoted to the investigation of cosmic rays and neutrinos of extreme energy (E > 5 x 10e19 eV), using the Earth's atmosphere as a giant detector, the detection being performed by looking at the streak of fluorescence light produced when such a particle interacts with the Earth's atmosphere. EUSO is a mission of the European Space Agency ESA, and it is currently under "Phase A" study with a goal for a three year mission starting in 2009. EUSO will be accommodated, as an external payload of the Columbus module, on the ISS International Space Station. ...more on Wikipedia about "Extreme Universe Space Observatory"
FUSE, the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, is a space-based telescope run by the Johns Hopkins University. FUSE was launched on a Delta II rocket on June 24 1999, as a part of NASA's Origins project. ...more on Wikipedia about "Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer"
FUSE, an acronym for Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer is a spacecraft. FUSE is a space-based ultraviolet telescope operated by Johns Hopkins University ( Baltimore, Maryland, USA). ...more on Wikipedia about "FUSE (Spacecraft)"
The Gaia satellite is an astrometry space mission, and a successor to the ESA Hipparcos mission. It was included within the context of the ESA's Horizon 2000 Plus long-term scientific programme in 2000. It is expected to be launched by the ESA in the second half of 2011, and will be operated in a Lissajous-type orbit around at the second ...more on Wikipedia about "Gaia probe"
The Galaxy Evolution Explorer is an orbiting space telescope that was launched on April 28, 2003. A Pegasus rocket placed GALEX into a nearly circular orbit at an altitude of 697 km (432 miles) and an inclination to the Earth's equator of 29 degrees. ...more on Wikipedia about "GALEX"
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The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, is a future space-based gamma-ray telescope, designed to explore the high-energy Universe. It will study astrophysical and cosmological phenomena such as active galactic nuclei, pulsars, other high-energy sources, and dark matter. ...more on Wikipedia about "Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope"
Astro-C, renamed Ginga (Japanese for 'galaxy'), was launched from the Kagoshima Space Center on 5 February, 1987. The primary instrument for observations was the Large Area Counter (LAC). Ginga was the third Japanese X-ray astronomy mission, following Hakucho and Tenma. Ginga reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 1 November, 1991. ...more on Wikipedia about "Ginga"
NASA's series of Great Observatories satellites were four large, powerful space-based telescopes. Each of the Great Observatories has/had a similar size and cost at program outset, and each has made a substantial contribution to astronomy. The four missions each had a region of the electromagnetic spectrum to which it was particularly suited. ...more on Wikipedia about "Great Observatories program"
The HALCA (Highly Advanced Laboratory for Communications and Astronomy) satellite is an 8 meter diameter radio telescope used for Very Long Baseline Interferometry. It is now in an orbit with an apogee altitude of 21,400 km and a perigee altitude of 560 km. The elliptical orbit will allow imaging of celestial radio sources by the satellite and ground based telescopes, with good (u,v) plane coverage and high resolution. The orbit has an inclination of 31 degrees, and a period of about 6.3 hours. It was launched in February 1997. After three years of designed life, altitude control failed in 2003, and the operation officially ended in November 2005. ...more on Wikipedia about "HALCA"
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