WISE

Spacecraft n°:

US spacecraft n°:

Launch data: Designation  36119 / 09071A Launch date  14 Dec 2009 - 14:09 UT Launch site  Va, SLC-2W Launch vehicle  Delta-7320-10C Mission  Government: Astronomy LEO Sun-Synchronous Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  525 x 533 km Eccentricity  5.80E-04 Inclination  97.51 deg Period  95.22 min

Spacecraft data: Prime contractor  Ball Aerospave & Technologies Corp/ Space Dynamics Laboratory Platform  RS-300 Operator  NASA Mass at launch  661 kg Dry Mass  645 kg Basic shape   Dimension (m)   Solar array   Stabilization   DC power  301 W Design lifetime  0.9 yrs

WISE project scientist Peter Eisenhardt stands next to the fully assembled WISE satellite.

Decay:

Mission details:

• Will survey the entire sky in a 9-month mission.
• NASA's Wide Field Infrared Explorer (WISE) astronomy satellite was launched from Vandenberg on Dec 14 aboard a two-stage Delta II into a 524 x 533 km x 97,5 deg orbit. If all goes well, WISE will pop its telescope cover off in late December and begin an infrared all-sky survey at 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 microns. For the time being, astronomers are still working with the 1983 IRAS survey, although the results from the J apanese Akari satellite which surveyed the sky at 10, 20, 60 and 170 microns are expected to be public soon.
• WISE will catalog sources 100 times fainter than either previous satellite. The spacecraft has a 40cm telescope cooled to 12K by a cryostat filled with solid hydrogen.
• After the WISE infrared astronomical observatory separated into a 526 x 531 km x 97.5 deg orbit, its Delta rocket second stage depleted the rest of its fuel with an extra pair of burns that put the empty stage in a 2113 x 11086 km x 97.5 deg disposal orbit, unusually high for a Delta II.
• WISE ejected its telescope cover (mass of 17 kg) at 2230 UTC on Dec 29 into a marginally lower 525 x 531 km orbit, and is now ready to begin observing.