GALEX

Launch data: Designation: 27783 / 03017A Launch date 28 Apr 2003 - 11:59:57 UT Launch site  CC, L-1011 RW3 Launch vehicle  Pegasus XL (#33) Mission Government: Space Science / Scientific: UV astronomy Intermediate LEO Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  693 x 699 km Eccentricity  4,25E-04 Inclination  29 deg Period  98.7 min

Specifications Prime contractor Orbital Sciences Corp. (OSC) Platform Leostar-2 Operator California Institute of Technology/NASA Mass at launch 280 kg Mass in orbit   Dimension   Solar array   Stabilization 3-axis DC power 290 W Design lifetime 28 months

Description:

• Galex is a Space Ultraviolet Small Explorer mission that will map the global history and probe the causes of star formation over the redshift range 0<z<2, 80% of the life of the Universe, the period over which galaxies have evolved dramatically, and the time that most stars, elements, and galaxy disks had their origins. Program managed by Caltech.
• GALEX uses the space ultraviolet to simultaneously measure redshift (using metal lines and the Lyman break), extinction (using the UV spectral slope), and star formation rate (using the UV luminosity which is proportional to the instantaneous star formation rate). Slitless grism spectroscopy is highly efficient, providing 100,000 galaxy spectra in one year. The 50 cm telescope, operating from 1300-3000 Å, is simple, cost-effective, efficient, and exploits MCP detectors and optical coatings which are flight-proven and cutting-edge to attain the deep, broad-band imaging and spectroscopy required.
  Conduct several sky surveys, including extra-gallactic. Nuclear-powered.
  X- (28 Mbps) and S-band (2 Mbps) downlink. May download via TDRS.

Mission details:

• NASA's Galex ultraviolet space telescope, launched in 2003, was switched off on June 28, 2013 following a extra tenth year of observing funded by Caltech. The spacecraft remained NASA property but was loaned to the university in 2012 May so that science operations could continue after NASA funding expired - a victory for science which required, much internal legal and bureaucrating wrangling before it was approved.