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Could NASA resurrect the Spitzer space telescope?

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2023-05-21 15:00:02

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope served the astronomy community well for 16 years. From its launch in 2003 to the end of its operations in January 2020, its infrared observations fueled scientific discoveries too numerous to list.

Infrared telescopes need to be kept cool to operate, and eventually, it ran out of coolant. But that wasn't the end of the mission; it kept operating in "warm" mode, where observations were limited. Its mission only ended when it drifted too far away from Earth to communicate effectively.

The Spitzer was one of four powerful space-based observatories in NASA's Great Observatories program. The other three are the Hubble, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Together, they covered gamma rays, X-rays, visible light, ultraviolet light, and infrared. (Radio waves are easily observed from Earth.) The Compton was de-orbited in 2000, and the Hubble and the Chandra are still operating.