IRAS
The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (Dutch: Infrarood Astronomische Satelliet) (IRAS) was the first space telescope to perform a survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths.[6] Launched on 25 January 1983,[3] its mission lasted ten months.[7] The telescope was a joint project of the United States (NASA), the Netherlands (NIVR), and the United Kingdom (SERC). Over 250,000 infrared sources were observed at 12, 25, 60, and 100 micrometer wavelengths.[7]
This article is about the space telescope. For other uses, see IRAS (disambiguation).Mission type
Infrared space observatory
13777
Final: 9 months, 26 days
1,083 kg (2,388 lb)
3.60 × 3.24 × 2.05 m (11.8 × 10.6 × 6.7 ft)[1]
9 February 1983[2]
Decommissioned
21 November 1983[3]
7,270.69 km (4,517.80 mi)
0.001857
879.05 km (546.22 mi)
906.05 km (562.99 mi)
98.95 deg
102.8 min
14.00 rev/day
57 cm (22 in)[5]
545 cm (215 in), f/9.56[5]
2,019 cm2 (312.9 sq in)[5]
Long-wavelength to far-infrared
Survey Array
Survey Array
Low Resolution Spectrometer
Chopped Photometric Channel
Support for the processing and analysis of data from IRAS was contributed from the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology. Currently, the Infrared Science Archive at IPAC holds the IRAS archive.[8][9]
The success of IRAS led to interest in the 1985 Infrared Telescope (IRT) mission on the Space Shuttle, and the planned Shuttle Infrared Telescope Facility which eventually transformed into the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, SIRTF, which in turn was developed into the Spitzer Space Telescope, launched in 2003.[10] The success of early infrared space astronomy led to further missions, such as the Infrared Space Observatory (1990s) and the Hubble Space Telescope's NICMOS instrument.
Later surveys[edit]
Several infrared space telescopes have continued and greatly expanded the study of the infrared Universe, such as the Infrared Space Observatory launched in 1995, the Spitzer Space Telescope launched in 2003, and the Akari Space Telescope launched in 2006.
A next generation of infrared space telescopes began when NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer launched on 14 December 2009 aboard a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Known as WISE, the telescope provided results hundreds of times more sensitive than IRAS at the shorter wavelengths; it also had an extended mission dubbed NEOWISE beginning in October 2010 after its coolant supply ran out.
A planned mission is NASA's Near-Earth Object Surveillance Mission (NEOSM), which is a successor to the NEOWISE mission.
2020 near-miss[edit]
On 29 January 2020, 23:39:35 UTC,[20] IRAS was expected to pass as closely as 12 meters [21] from the U.S. Air Force's Gravity Gradient Stabilization Experiment (GGSE-4) of 1967, another un-deorbited satellite left aloft; the 14.7-kilometer per second pass[22] had an estimated risk of collision of 5%. Further complications arose from the fact that GGSE-4 was outfitted with an 18 meter long stabilization boom that was in an unknown orientation and may have struck the satellite even if the spacecraft's main body did not.[23] Initial observations from amateur astronomers seemed to indicate that both satellites had survived the pass, with the California-based debris tracking organization LeoLabs later confirming that they had detected no new tracked debris following the incident.[24][25]