Spitzer begins warm mission
Sat May 16, 2009 at 10:18 UTC
After more than five-and-a-half years of probing the cool cosmos, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has run out of the coolant that kept its infrared instruments chilled.
The telescope will warm up slightly, yet two of its infrared detector arrays will still operate successfully. The new, warm mission will continue to unveil the far, cold and dusty universe.
Spitzer entered standby mode at 22:11 UTC, May 15, as result of running out of its liquid helium coolant. Scientists and engineers will spend the next few weeks recalibrating the instrument at the warmer temperature, and preparing it to begin science operations.
| Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory | |
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