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Key parts of a telescope12/9/2023 ![]() ![]() All communications with Spitzer took place through NASA's Deep Space Network. The spacecraft provided electrical power to the science instruments, oriented and stabilized the telescope, stored and compressed the data from the science instruments for later transmission to Earth, executed the stored commands to carry out the planned observing schedule, and communicated with the ground system. The spacecraft consisted of two main parts: the solar panels, which provided electrical power to the spacecraft and shielded the Cryogenic Telescope Assembly from the Sun and the spacecraft bus: an octagonal structure that housed the avionics and the warm electronics parts of the science instruments. These components included the solar arrays, the command and data handling unit, the reaction control subsystem, the telecommunications subsystem, the power generation and distribution subsystem, the pointing control subsystem, and the flight software. Spitzer's spacecraft referred to the uncooled portion of the observatory, including the Solar Panel Assembly, the Spacecraft Bus, and all of the components mounted in the bus that provided the Observatory engineering functions. NASA announced in May 2019 that it would end the Spitzer mission on January 30, 2020, naming the remaining mission the “Spitzer Final Voyage”. The warm mission became the "Spitzer Beyond" mission in August 2016. Providing imaging with two channels (at 3.6 and 4.5 µm) in one of its instruments (IRAC), Spitzer continued to operate until January 30, 2020. On the coolant was finally depleted and the Spitzer "warm mission" began. Spitzer was originally built to last for a minimum of 2.5 years, but it lasted in the cold phase for over 5.5 years. Spitzer's infrared eyes also allows astronomers see cooler objects in space, like failed stars (brown dwarfs), extrasolar planets, giant molecular clouds, and organic molecules that may hold the secret to life on other planets. Spitzer's highly sensitive instruments allow scientists to peer into cosmic regions that are hidden from optical telescopes, including dusty stellar nurseries, the centers of galaxies, and newly forming planetary systems. Meanwhile, electronic equipment in The Spacecraft portion needs to operate near room temperature. This is achieved with an onboard tank of liquid helium, or cryogen. Everything in the Cryogenic Telescope Assembly must be cooled to only a few degrees above absolute zero (-273º Celsius). It may seem like a contradiction, but NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope must be simultaneously warm and cold to function properly. The Spacecraft, which controls the telescope, provides power to the instruments, handles the scientific data and communicates with Earth.All of Spitzer's cold items were kept in the Cryogenic Telescope Assembly (CTA), which was made up of four main-parts: The Telescope, Multiple Instrument Chamber ( Infrared Array Camera, I nfrared Spectrograph, and Multiband Imaging Photometer), Cryostat, and Outer Shell Group. The Cryogenic Telescope Assembly, which contained the 85 centimeter telescope and Spitzer's three scientific instruments. ![]() It was comprised of two major components (Ref. Spitzer was designed to detect infrared radiation, which is primarily heat radiation. ![]() The other missions in the program include the visible-light Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO), and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO). The Spitzer Space Telescope is the final mission in NASA's Great Observatories Program - a family of four space-based observatories, each observing the Universe in a different kind of light. Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) Mission Spacecraft Launch Sensor Complement Mission Status References ![]()
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