IRAS

Netherlands, UK & USA

Spacecraft n°:

Netherlands spacecraft n°: 2

Infra Red Astronomy Satellite

Launch data:

Designation	13777 / 83004A
Launch date	26 Jan 1983
Launch site	Va, SLC-2W
Launch vehicle	Delta-3910 (#166)
Mission	Scientific: IR astronomy
Earth orbit on:
Perigee/Apogee	884/903 km
Inclination	99°
Period	102.9 min

It mapped 250,000 IR sources in the 300 days before its helium coolant was exhausted.

Specifications

Industrial responsabilities	Netherlands Aerospace Agency (bus) NASA Ames Research Center, JPL (telescope) SERC (TT&C and data collection) Prime contractors: ICIRAS (bus) Ball Aerospace (telescope) Perkin-Elmer (optics)
Mass at launch	1077 kg
Telescope mass	810 kg
Diameter	2.2 m
Height	3.6 m
Solar array	5 m² (2 panels)
Stabilization	3-axis
DC power	EOL: 500 W
Design lifetime	11 months

End of life

Out of service

23 Nov 1983

Description:

The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) was a mission with joint execution by the United States (NASA), the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The basic goal of this mission was to obtain a full-sky survey over the approximate wavelength range 8 to 120 micrometers with four broadband photometry channels.

Mission details:

On Jan 29, 2020 at 2339 UTC two defunct satellites had a very near miss, probably less than 100 meters apart. The IRAS astronomical satellite, which operated from 1983 to 1985, and the NRO/NRL POPPY 5B signals intelligence satellite (codenamed GGSE 4), which operated from 1967 to 1972, passed each other at a relative velocity of 14.7 km/s.

Payload:

Ritchey-Chretien-type reflecting telescope with a local plane array of 62 IR detectors surrounded by a dewar containing 475 l of liquid helium. Plus 2 photometers and a low-resolution spectrometer.

Telescope diameter	0.57 m
Focal length	5.5 m
Field of view	30 arcmin

Spectral range:

IR Telescope	(band 1) 8.5-15 µm (band 2) 19-30 µm (band 3) 40-80 µm (band 4) 83-119 µm
Spectrometer	7.4-23 µm
Short wavelength photometer	4.1-8 µm

Cooling system by evaporated helium

Temperature control	2 K
Telemetry/data	S-band (1 Mbps)

Ref.: #7(JR774) - update: 12.03.20

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