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Spitzer Telescope

Kumari Sonali

Spitzer Telescope:

SpaceWERX, the “innovation arm” of the United States Space Force recently selected Rhea Space Activity, a Washington-based astrophysics startup, to develop the Spitzer Resurrector Mission.

  • Spitzer Telescope is a S. satellite the fourth and last of the NASA fleet of “Great Observatories” satellites.
  • It was the third space telescope that was dedicated to infrared imaging and was launched in 2003.
  • The satellite telescope orbits the Sun about one astronomical unit (AU) in an Earth-trailing orbit.
  • It studied the cosmos at infrared wavelengths.
  • It spent more than 16 years gathering information on the origin, evolution, and composition of planets and smaller bodies, stars, galaxies, and the universe as a whole.
  • It was named in honour of Lyman Spitzer, Jr., an American astrophysicist who in a seminal 1946 paper foresaw the power of astronomical telescopes operating in space.

Spitzer Resurrector Mission:

  • It is designed to “restart” the telescope.
  • The telescope is about two AU away from the Earth.
  • In its current location, direct communications with Earth are not possible.
  • The Mission will confirm that Spitzer has been restored to its original performance capabilities.

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