Spitzer Space telescope - wikipedia Spitzer Space telescope Spitzer Space Telescope Artist rendering of the Spitzer Space Telescope Names Space Infrared Telescope Facility Mission type Infrared space telescope Operator NASA / JPL / Caltech COSPAR ID 2003 - 038A SATCAT no. 27871 Website http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/ Mission duration Planned : 2.5 to 5 + years Primary mission : 5 years, 8 months, 19 days Elapsed : 14 years, 10 months, 16 days Spacecraft properties Manufacturer Lockheed Ball Aerospace Launch mass 950 kg ( 2,094 lb ) Dry mass 884 kg ( 1,949 lb ) Payload mass 851.5 kg ( 1,877 lb ) Start of mission Launch date 25 August 2003, 05 : 35 : 39 ( 2003 - 08 - 25UTC05 : 35 : 39 ) UTC Rocket Delta II 7920H Launch site Cape Canaveral SLC - 17B Entered service 18 December 2003 Orbital parameters Reference system Heliocentric Regime Earth - trailing Eccentricity 0.011 Perihelion 1.003 AU Aphelion 1.026 AU Inclination 1.13 ° Period 373.2 days Epoch 16 March 2017 00 : 00 : 00 Main telescope Type Ritchey -- Chrétien Diameter 0.85 m ( 2.8 ft ) Focal length 10.2 m ( 33 ft ) Wavelengths infrared, 3.6 -- 160 μm show Instruments IRAC Infrared Array Camera IRS Infrared Spectrograph MIPS Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer Great Observatories program ← Chandra The Spitzer Space Telescope ( SST ), formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility ( SIRTF ), is an infrared space telescope launched in 2003 and still operating as of 2018. It is the fourth and final of the NASA Great Observatories program. The planned mission period was to be 2.5 years with a pre-launch expectation that the mission could extend to five or slightly more years until the onboard liquid helium supply was exhausted. This occurred on 15 May 2009. Without liquid helium to cool the telescope to the very low temperatures needed to operate, most of the instruments are no longer usable. However, the two shortest - wavelength modules of the IRAC camera are still operable with the same sensitivity as before the cryogen was exhausted, and have continued to be used to the present in the Spitzer Warm Mission. All Spitzer data, from both the primary and warm phases, are archived at the Infrared Science Archive ( IRSA ). In keeping with NASA tradition, the telescope was renamed after its successful demonstration of operation, on 18 December 2003. Unlike most telescopes that are named after famous deceased astronomers by a board of scientists, the new name for SIRTF was obtained from a contest open to the general public. The contest led to the telescope being named in honor of astronomer Lyman Spitzer, who had promoted the concept of space telescopes in the 1940s. Spitzer wrote a 1946 report for RAND Corporation describing the advantages of an extraterrestrial observatory and how it could be realized with available or upcoming technology. He has been cited for his pioneering contributions to rocketry and astronomy, as well as `` his vision and leadership in articulating the advantages and benefits to be realized from the Space Telescope Program. '' The US $720 million Spitzer was launched on 25 August 2003 at 05 : 35 : 39 UTC from Cape Canaveral SLC - 17B aboard a Delta II 7920H rocket. It follows a heliocentric instead of geocentric orbit, trailing and drifting away from Earth 's orbit at approximately 0.1 astronomical units per year ( a so - called `` earth - trailing '' orbit ). The primary mirror is 85 centimeters ( 33 in ) in diameter, f / 12, made of beryllium and was cooled to 5.5 K ( − 268 ° C ; − 450 ° F ). The satellite contains three instruments that allow it to perform astronomical imaging and photometry from 3.6 to 160 micrometers, spectroscopy from 5.2 to 38 micrometers, and spectrophotometry from 5 to 100 micrometers. Contents 1 History 2 Instruments 3 Results 3.1 GLIMPSE and MIPSGAL surveys 3.2 2010s 3.3 Spitzer Beyond 3.4 Planet hunter 4 See also 5 References 6 External links History By the early 1970s, astronomers began to consider the possibility of placing an infrared telescope above the obscuring effects of Earth 's atmosphere. In 1979, a report from the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, A Strategy for Space Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 1980s, identified a Space Infrared Telescope Facility ( SIRTF ) as `` one of two major astrophysics facilities ( to be developed ) for Spacelab '', a Shuttle - borne platform. Anticipating the major results from an upcoming Explorer satellite and from the Shuttle mission, the report also favored the `` study and development of... long - duration spaceflights of infrared telescopes cooled to cryogenic temperatures. '' The launch in January 1983 of the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, jointly developed by the United States, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, to conduct the first infrared survey of the sky, whetted the appetites of scientists worldwide for follow - up space missions capitalizing on the rapid improvements in infrared detector technology. Earlier infrared observations had been made by both space - based and ground - based observatories. Ground - based observatories have the drawback that at infrared wavelengths or frequencies, both the Earth 's atmosphere and the telescope itself will radiate ( glow ) strongly. Additionally, the atmosphere is opaque at most infrared wavelengths. This necessitates lengthy exposure times and greatly decreases the ability to detect faint objects. It could be compared to trying to observe the stars at noon. Previous space observatories ( such as IRAS, the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, and ISO, the Infrared Space Observatory ) were launched during the 1980s and 1990s and great advances in astronomical technology have been made since then. SIRTF in a Kennedy Space Center clean room Launch of SIRTF in 2003 aboard the 300th Delta rocket Most of the early concepts envisioned repeated flights aboard the NASA Space Shuttle. This approach was developed in an era when the Shuttle program was expected to support weekly flights of up to 30 days duration. A May 1983 NASA proposal described SIRTF as a Shuttle - attached mission, with an evolving scientific instrument payload. Several flights were anticipated with a probable transition into a more extended mode of operation, possibly in association with a future space platform or space station. SIRTF would be a 1 - meter class, cryogenically cooled, multi-user facility consisting of a telescope and associated focal plane instruments. It would be launched on the Space Shuttle and remain attached to the Shuttle as a Spacelab payload during astronomical observations, after which it would be returned to Earth for refurbishment prior to re-flight. The first flight was expected to occur about 1990, with the succeeding flights anticipated beginning approximately one year later. However, the Spacelab - 2 flight aboard STS - 51 - F showed that the Shuttle environment was poorly suited to an onboard infrared telescope due to contamination from the relatively `` dirty '' vacuum associated with the orbiters. By September 1983 NASA was considering the `` possibility of a long duration ( free - flyer ) SIRTF mission ''. Spitzer is the only one of the Great Observatories not launched by the Space Shuttle, as was originally intended. However, after the 1986 Challenger disaster, the Centaur LH2 -- LOX upper stage, which would have been required to place it in its final orbit, was banned from Shuttle use. The mission underwent a series of redesigns during the 1990s, primarily due to budget considerations. This resulted in a much smaller but still fully capable mission that could use the smaller Delta II expendable launch vehicle. One of the most important advances of this redesign was an Earth - trailing orbit. Cryogenic satellites that require liquid helium ( LHe, T ≈ 4 K ) temperatures in near - Earth orbit are typically exposed to a large heat load from the Earth, and consequently require large amounts of LHe coolant, which then tends to dominate the total payload mass and limits mission life. Placing the satellite in solar orbit far from Earth allowed innovative passive cooling such as the sun shield, against the single remaining major heat source to drastically reduce the total mass of helium needed, resulting in an overall smaller lighter payload, with major cost savings. This orbit also simplifies telescope pointing, but does require the NASA Deep Space Network for communications. The primary instrument package ( telescope and cryogenic chamber ) was developed by Ball Aerospace & Technologies, in Boulder, Colorado. The individual instruments were developed jointly by industrial, academic, and government institutions, the principals being Cornell, the University of Arizona, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Ball Aerospace, and Goddard Spaceflight Center. The shorter - wavelength infrared detectors were developed by Raytheon in Goleta, California. Raytheon used indium antimonide and a doped silicon detector in the creation of the infrared detectors. It is stated that these detectors are 100 times more sensitive than what was once available in the beginning of the project during the 1980s. The far - IR detectors ( 70 - 160 micrometers ) were developed jointly by the University of Arizona and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory using Gallium - doped Germanium. The spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin. The mission is operated and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Spitzer Science Center, located on the Caltech campus in Pasadena, California. Spitzer ran out of liquid helium coolant on 15 May 2009, which stopped far - IR observations. Only the IRAC instrument remains in use, and only at the two shorter wavelength bands ( 3.6 μm and 4.5 μm ). The telescope equilibrium temperature is now around 30 K ( − 243 ° C ; − 406 ° F ), and IRAC continues to produce valuable images at those wavelengths as the `` Spitzer Warm Mission ''. Instruments Henize 206 viewed by different instruments in March 2004. The separate IRAC and MPIS images are at right. Spitzer carries three instruments on - board : Infrared Array Camera ( IRAC ) An infrared camera which operates simultaneously on four wavelengths ( 3.6 μm, 4.5 μm, 5.8 μm and 8 μm ). Each module uses a 256 × 256 - pixel detector -- the short wavelength pair use indium antimonide technology, the long wavelength pair use arsenic - doped silicon impurity band conduction technology. The principal investigator is Giovanni Fazio of Harvard -- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics ; the flight hardware was built by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Infrared Spectrograph ( IRS ) An infrared spectrometer with four sub-modules which operate at the wavelengths 5.3 -- 14 μm ( low resolution ), 10 -- 19.5 μm ( high resolution ), 14 -- 40 μm ( low resolution ), and 19 -- 37 μm ( high resolution ). Each module uses a 128 × 128 - pixel detector -- the short wavelength pair use arsenic - doped silicon blocked impurity band technology, the long wavelength pair use antimony - doped silicon blocked impurity band technology. The principal investigator is James R. Houck of Cornell University ; the flight hardware was built by Ball Aerospace. Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer ( MIPS ) Three detector arrays in the far infrared ( 128 × 128 pixels at 24 μm, 32 × 32 pixels at 70 μm, 2 × 20 pixels at 160 μm ). The 24 μm detector is identical to one of the IRS short wavelength modules. The 70 μm detector uses gallium - doped germanium technology, and the 160 μm detector also uses gallium - doped germanium, but with mechanical stress added to each pixel to lower the bandgap and extend sensitivity to this long wavelength. The principal investigator is George H. Rieke of the University of Arizona ; the flight hardware was built by Ball Aerospace. Results Spitzer 's first light image of IC 1396. The first images taken by SST were designed to show off the abilities of the telescope and showed a glowing stellar nursery ; a big swirling, dusty galaxy ; a disc of planet - forming debris ; and organic material in the distant universe. Since then, many monthly press releases have highlighted Spitzer 's capabilities, as the NASA and ESA images do for the Hubble Space Telescope. As one of its most noteworthy observations, in 2005, SST became the first telescope to directly capture light from exoplanets, namely the `` hot Jupiters '' HD 209458 b and TrES - 1b, although it did not resolve that light into actual images. This was the first time extrasolar planets had actually been visually seen ; earlier observations had been indirectly made by drawing conclusions from behaviors of the stars the planets were orbiting. The telescope also discovered in April 2005 that Cohen - kuhi Tau / 4 had a planetary disk that was vastly younger and contained less mass than previously theorized, leading to new understandings of how planets are formed. The Helix Nebula. Blue shows infrared light of 3.6 to 4.5 micrometers ; green shows infrared light of 5.8 to 8 micrometers ; and red shows infrared light of 24 micrometers. While some time on the telescope is reserved for participating institutions and crucial projects, astronomers around the world also have the opportunity to submit proposals for observing time. Important targets include forming stars ( young stellar objects, or YSOs ), planets, and other galaxies. Images are freely available for educational and journalistic purposes. In 2004, it was reported that Spitzer had spotted a faintly glowing body that may be the youngest star ever seen. The telescope was trained on a core of gas and dust known as L1014 which had previously appeared completely dark to ground - based observatories and to ISO ( Infrared Space Observatory ), a predecessor to Spitzer. The advanced technology of Spitzer revealed a bright red hot spot in the middle of L1014. Scientists from the University of Texas at Austin, who discovered the object, believe the hot spot to be an example of early star development, with the young star collecting gas and dust from the cloud around it. Early speculation about the hot spot was that it might have been the faint light of another core that lies 10 times further from Earth but along the same line of sight as L1014. Follow - up observation from ground - based near - infrared observatories detected a faint fan - shaped glow in the same location as the object found by Spitzer. That glow is too feeble to have come from the more distant core, leading to the conclusion that the object is located within L1014. ( Young et al., 2004 ) In 2005, astronomers from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Whitewater determined, on the basis of 400 hours of observation on the Spitzer Space Telescope, that the Milky Way galaxy has a more substantial bar structure across its core than previously recognized. Artificial color image of the Double Helix Nebula, thought to be generated at the galactic center by magnetic torsion 1000 times greater than the Sun 's. Also in 2005, astronomers Alexander Kashlinsky and John Mather of NASA 's Goddard Space Flight Center reported that one of Spitzer 's earliest images may have captured the light of the first stars in the universe. An image of a quasar in the Draco constellation, intended only to help calibrate the telescope, was found to contain an infrared glow after the light of known objects was removed. Kashlinsky and Mather are convinced that the numerous blobs in this glow are the light of stars that formed as early as 100 million years after the Big Bang, redshifted by cosmic expansion. In March 2006, astronomers reported an 80 - light - year long ( 25 pc ) nebula near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, the Double Helix Nebula, which is, as the name implies, twisted into a double spiral shape. This is thought to be evidence of massive magnetic fields generated by the gas disc orbiting the supermassive black hole at the galaxy 's center, 300 light - years ( 92 pc ) from the nebula and 25,000 light - years ( 7,700 pc ) from Earth. This nebula was discovered by Spitzer and published in the magazine Nature on 16 March 2006. In May 2007, astronomers successfully mapped the atmospheric temperature of HD 189733 b, thus obtaining the first map of some kind of an extrasolar planet. Since September 2006 the telescope participates in a series of surveys called the Gould Belt Survey, observing the Gould 's Belt region in multiple wavelengths. The first set of observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope were completed from 21 September 2006 through 27 September. Resulting from these observations, the team of astronomers led by Dr. Robert Gutermuth, of the Harvard -- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reported the discovery of Serpens South, a cluster of 50 young stars in the Serpens constellation. The Andromeda Galaxy taken by MIPS at 24 micrometers Scientists have long wondered how tiny silicate crystals, which need high temperatures to form, have found their way into frozen comets, born in the very cold environment of the Solar System 's outer edges. The crystals would have begun as non-crystallized, amorphous silicate particles, part of the mix of gas and dust from which the Solar System developed. This mystery has deepened with the results of the Stardust sample return mission, which captured particles from Comet Wild 2. Many of the Stardust particles were found to have formed at temperatures in excess of 1000 K. In May 2009, Spitzer researchers from Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands found that amorphous silicate appears to have been transformed into crystalline form by an outburst from a star. They detected the infrared signature of forsterite silicate crystals on the disk of dust and gas surrounding the star EX Lupi during one of its frequent flare - ups, or outbursts, seen by Spitzer in April 2008. These crystals were not present in Spitzer 's previous observations of the star 's disk during one of its quiet periods. These crystals appear to have formed by radiative heating of the dust within 0.5 AU of EX Lupi. In August 2009, the telescope found evidence of a high - speed collision between two burgeoning planets orbiting a young star. In October 2009, astronomers Anne J. Verbiscer, Michael F. Skrutskie, and Douglas P. Hamilton published findings of the `` Phoebe ring '' of Saturn, which was found with the telescope ; the ring is a huge, tenuous disc of material extending from 128 to 207 times the radius of Saturn. GLIMPSE and MIPSGAL surveys GLIMPSE, the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire, is a survey spanning 300 ° of the inner Milky Way galaxy. It consists of approximately 444,000 images taken at four separate wavelengths using the Infrared Array Camera. MIPSGAL is a similar survey covering 278 ° of the galactic disk at longer wavelengths. On 3 June 2008, scientists unveiled the largest, most detailed infra - red portrait of the Milky Way, created by stitching together more than 800,000 snapshots, at the 212th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in St. Louis, Missouri. This composite survey is now viewable with the GLIMPSE / MIPSGAL Viewer. 2010s An arrow points to the embryonic star HOPS - 68, where scientists believe forsterite crystals are raining down onto the central dust disk. Spitzer observations, announced in May 2011, indicate that tiny forsterite crystals might be falling down like rain on to the protostar HOPS - 68. The discovery of the forsterite crystals in the outer collapsing cloud of the protostar is surprising, because the crystals form at lava - like high temperatures, yet they are found in the molecular cloud where the temperatures are about − 170 ° C ( 103 K ; − 274 ° F ). This led the team of astronomers to speculate that the bipolar outflow from the young star may be transporting the forsterite crystals from near the star 's surface to the chilly outer cloud. In January 2012, it was reported that further analysis of the Spitzer observations of EX Lupi can be understood if the forsterite crystalline dust was moving away from the protostar at a remarkable average speed of 38 kilometres per second ( 24 mi / s ). It would appear that such high speeds can arise only if the dust grains had been ejected by a bipolar outflow close to the star. Such observations are consistent with an astrophysical theory, developed in the early 1990s, where it was suggested that bipolar outflows garden or transform the disks of gas and dust that surround protostars by continually ejecting reprocessed, highly heated material from the inner disk, adjacent to the protostar, to regions of the accretion disk further away from the protostar. In April 2015, Spitzer and the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment were reported as co-discovering one of the most distant planets ever identified : a gas giant about 13,000 light - years ( 4,000 pc ) away from Earth. Illustration of a brown dwarf combined with a graph of light curves from OGLE - 2015 - BLG - 1319 : Ground - based data ( grey ), Swift ( blue ), and Spitzer ( red ) In June and July 2015, the brown dwarf OGLE - 2015 - BLG - 1319 was discovered using the gravitational microlensing detection method in a joint effort between Swift, Spitzer, and the ground - based Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, the first time two space telescopes have observed the same microlensing event. This method was possible because of the large separation between the two spacecraft : Swift is in low - Earth orbit while Spitzer is more than one AU distant in an Earth - trailing heliocentric orbit. This separation provided significantly different perspectives of the brown dwarf, allowing for constraints to be placed on some of the object 's physical characteristics. Reported in March 2016, Spitzer and Hubble were used to discover the most distant - known galaxy, GN - z11. This object was seen as it appeared 13.4 billion years ago. Spitzer Beyond On 1 October 2016, Spitzer began its Observation Cycle 13, a ​ 2 ⁄ year extended mission nicknamed Beyond. One of the goals of this extended mission is to help prepare for the James Webb Space Telescope, also an infrared telescope, by identifying candidates for more detailed observations. Another aspect of the Beyond mission are the engineering challenges of operating Spitzer in its progressing orbital phase. As the spacecraft moves farther from Earth on the same orbital path from the Sun, its antenna must point at increasingly higher angles to communicate with ground stations ; this change in angle imparts more and more solar heating on the vehicle while its solar panels receive less sunlight. Planet hunter Artist 's impression of the TRAPPIST - 1 system Spitzer has been put to work studying exoplanets thanks to creatively tweaking its hardware. This included doubling its stability by modifying its heating cycle, finding a new use for the `` peak - up '' camera, and analyzing the sensor at a sub-pixel level. Although in its `` warm '' mission, the spacecraft 's passive cooling system keeps the sensors at 29 K ( − 244 ° C ; − 407 ° F ). Spitzer can use the transit photometry and gravitational microlensing techniques to perform these observations. According to NASA 's Sean Carey, `` We never even considered using Spitzer for studying exoplanets when it launched... It would have seemed ludicrous back then, but now it 's an important part of what Spitzer does. '' Examples of exoplanets discovered using Spitzer include HD 219134 b in 2015, which was shown to be a rocky planet about 1.5 times as large as Earth in a three - day orbit around its star ; and an unnamed planet found using microlensing located about 13,000 light - years ( 4,000 pc ) from Earth. In September -- October 2016, Spitzer was used to discover five of a total of seven known planets around the star TRAPPIST - 1, all of which are approximately Earth sized and likely rocky. Three of the discovered planets are located in the habitable zone, which means they are capable of supporting liquid water given sufficient parameters. Using the transit method, Spitzer helped measure the sizes of the seven planets and estimate the mass and density of the inner six. Further observations will help determine if there is liquid water on any of the planets. See also Astronomy portal Infrared astronomy List of space telescopes List of largest infrared telescopes Herschel Space Observatory ( 2009 - 2013 ) References ^ Jump up to : `` About Spitzer : Fast Facts ''. Caltech. 2008. Archived from the original on 2 February 2007. Retrieved 22 April 2007. ^ Jump up to : Harwood, William ( 25 August 2003 ). `` 300th Delta rocket launches new window on Universe ''. CBS News via Spaceflight Now. 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Retrieved on 21 July 2013. Jump up ^ Spitzer Science Center Home Page -- Public information. Jump up ^ Clavin, Whitney B. ; Harrington, J.D. ( 5 August 2009 ). `` NASA 's Spitzer Sees the Cosmos Through ' Warm ' Infrared Eyes ''. NASA. Retrieved 30 January 2016. Jump up ^ SSC Observatory general information page Archived 6 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine., 4 October 2009. Jump up ^ SSC Observatory Overview Archived 10 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine., 4 October 2009. Jump up ^ SSC Science Information home page, 4 October 2009. Jump up ^ Spitzer Observers ' Manual Archived 11 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine., reference for technical instrument information, Ver 8, 15 August 2008. Jump up ^ SSC IRAC ( Mid IR camera ) science users information page, 4 October 2009. Jump up ^ SSC IRS ( spectrometer ) science users ' information page, 4 October 2009. 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( 30 July 2015 ). `` NASA 's Spitzer Confirms Closest Rocky Exoplanet ''. NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 15 December 2016. Jump up ^ Clavin, Whitney B. ; Chou, Felicia ( 14 April 2015 ). `` NASA 's Spitzer Spots Planet Deep Within Our Galaxy ''. NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 15 December 2016. ^ Jump up to : Chou, Felicia ; Potter, Sean ; Landau, Elizabeth ( 22 February 2017 ). `` NASA Telescope Reveals Largest Batch of Earth - Size, Habitable - Zone Planets Around Single Star ''. NASA. Retrieved 3 March 2017. Jump up ^ Gillon, Michaël ; et al. ( 23 February 2017 ). `` Figure 1 : The TRAPPIST - 1 system as seen by Spitzer ''. Nature. 542 ( 7642 ) : 456 -- 460. arXiv : 1703.01424. Bibcode : 2017Natur. 542... 456G. doi : 10.1038 / nature21360. PMC 5330437. PMID 28230125. Jump up ^ Kopparapu, Ravi Kumar ( 25 March 2013 ). `` A revised estimate of the occurrence rate of terrestrial planets in the habitable zones around kepler m - dwarfs ''. The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 767 ( 1 ) : L8. arXiv : 1303.2649. Bibcode : 2013ApJ... 767L... 8K. doi : 10.1088 / 2041 - 8205 / 767 / 1 / L8. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Spitzer Space Telescope. Spitzer Space Telescope at NASA.gov Spitzer Space Telescope at Caltech.edu Spitzer Space Telescope by NASA 's Solar System Exploration GLIMPSE / MIPSGAL image viewer at Alienearths.org Space observatories Operating AGILE ( 2007 ) AMS - 02 ( 2011 ) ASTERIA ( 2017 ) Astrosat ( 2015 ) CALET ( 2015 ) Chandra ( AXAF ) ( 1999 ) DAMPE ( 2015 ) Fermi ( 2008 ) Gaia ( 2013 ) HXMT ( Insight ) ( 2017 ) Hinode ( Solar - B ) ( 2006 ) HiRISE ( 2005 ) Hisaki ( SPRINT - A ) ( 2013 ) Hubble ( 1990 ) INTEGRAL ( 2002 ) IBEX ( 2008 ) IRIS ( 2013 ) ISS - CREAM ( 2017 ) Kepler ( 2009 ) MAXI ( 2009 ) Mikhailo Lomonosov ( 2016 ) MOST ( 2003 ) NCLE ( 2018 ) NEOSSat ( 2013 ) NICER ( 2017 ) NuSTAR ( 2012 ) Odin ( 2001 ) R / HESSI ( 2002 ) SDO ( 2010 ) SOHO ( 1995 ) SOLAR ( 2008 ) Spektr - R ( 2011 ) Spitzer ( 2003 ) Swift ( 2004 ) TESS ( 2018 ) TUGSAT - 1 ( 2013 ) UniBRITE - 1 ( 2013 ) WISE ( 2009 ) XMM - Newton ( 1999 ) Planned Mini-EUSO ( 2018 ) Stars - AO ( 2018 ) CHEOPS ( 2019 ) ILO - 1 ( 2019 ) iWF - MAXI ( 2019 ) Public Telescope ( PST ) ( 2019 ) Solar Orbiter ( SolO ) ( 2019 ) Spektr - RG ( 2019 ) Astro - 1 Telescope ( 2020 ) Nano - JASMINE ( 2020 ) ORBIS ( 2020 ) Euclid ( 2021 ) IXPE ( 2021 ) James Webb ( JWST ) ( 2021 ) LORD ( 2021 ) Spektr - UV ( 2021 ) SVOM ( 2021 ) XARM ( 2021 ) Space Solar Telescope ( 2022 ) Xuntian ( 2022 ) K - EUSO ( 2023 ) Solar - C ( 2023 ) WFIRST ( 2025 + ) PLATO ( 2026 ) Spektr - M ( 2026 + ) ARIEL ( 2028 ) ATHENA ( 2028 ) LISA ( 2034 ) Proposed Arcus AstroSat - 2 EXCEDE Fresnel Imager FOCAL HabEx Hibari Hypertelescope JEM - EUSO LiteBIRD LUCI LUVOIR ATLAST HDST Lynx NEOCam New Worlds Mission NRO donation to NASA OST PhoENiX Small - JASMINE Sentinel Solar - D SPHEREx SPICA THEIA THESEUS Retired Akari ( Astro - F ) ( 2006 -- 11 ) ALEXIS ( 1993 -- 2005 ) ATM ( 1973 -- 74 ) ASCA ( Astro - D ) ( 1993 -- 2000 ) Astro - 1 ( 1990 ) BBXRT HUT Astro - 2 ( HUT ) ( 1995 ) Astron ( 1983 -- 89 ) ANS ( 1974 -- 76 ) BeppoSAX ( 1996 -- 2003 ) CHIPSat ( 2003 -- 08 ) Compton ( CGRO ) ( 1991 -- 2000 ) CoRoT ( 2006 -- 13 ) Cos - B ( 1975 -- 82 ) COBE ( 1989 -- 93 ) EPOCh ( 2008 ) EPOXI ( 2010 ) EXOSAT ( 1983 -- 86 ) EUVE ( 1992 -- 2001 ) FUSE ( 1999 -- 2007 ) Kvant - 1 ( 1987 -- 2001 ) GALEX ( 2003 -- 13 ) Gamma ( 1990 -- 92 ) Ginga ( Astro - C ) ( 1987 -- 91 ) Granat ( 1989 -- 98 ) Hakucho ( CORSA - b ) ( 1979 -- 85 ) HALCA ( MUSES - B ) ( 1997 -- 2005 ) HEAO - 1 ( 1977 -- 79 ) Herschel ( 2009 -- 13 ) Hinotori ( Astro - A ) ( 1981 -- 91 ) HEAO - 2 ( Einstein Obs. ) ( 1978 -- 82 ) HEAO - 3 ( 1979 -- 81 ) HETE - 2 ( 2000 -- 07 ? ) Hipparcos ( 1989 -- 93 ) IUE ( 1978 -- 96 ) IRAS ( 1983 ) IRTS ( 1995 -- 96 ) ISO ( 1996 -- 98 ) IXAE ( 1996 -- 2004 ) Kristall ( 1990 -- 2001 ) LEGRI ( 1997 -- 2002 ) LISA Pathfinder ( 2015 -- 17 ) MSX ( 1996 -- 97 ) OAO - 2 ( 1968 -- 73 ) OAO - 3 ( Copernicus ) ( 1972 -- 81 ) Orion 1 ( 1971 ) Orion 2 ( 1973 ) PAMELA ( 2006 -- 16 ) Planck ( 2009 -- 13 ) RELIKT - 1 ( 1983 -- 84 ) ROSAT ( 1990 -- 99 ) RXTE ( 1995 -- 2012 ) SAMPEX ( 1992 -- 2004 ) SAS - B ( 1972 -- 73 ) SAS - C ( 1975 -- 79 ) Suzaku ( Astro - EII ) ( 2005 -- 15 ) Taiyo ( SRATS ) ( 1975 -- 80 ) Tenma ( Astro - B ) ( 1983 -- 1985 ) Uhuru ( 1970 -- 73 ) WMAP ( 2001 -- 10 ) Yokoh ( Solar - A ) ( 1991 -- 2001 ) Hibernating ( Mission completed ) SWAS ( 1998 -- 2005 ) TRACE ( 1998 -- 2010 ) Lost OAO - 1 ( 1966 ) OAO - B ( 1970 ) CORSA ( 1976 ) ABRIXAS ( 1999 ) HETE - 1 ( 1996 ) WIRE ( 1999 ) Astro - E ( 2000 ) Tsubame ( 2014 -- ? ) Hitomi ( Astro - H ) ( 2016 ) Cancelled Astro - G Constellation - X Darwin Destiny EChO Eddington FAME FINESSE GEMS IXO JDEM LOFT SIM & SIMlite SNAP TAUVEX TPF XEUS XIPE See also Great Observatories program List of space telescopes List of proposed space observatories List of X-ray space telescopes Category NASA Policy and history History NACA ( 1915 ) National Aeronautics and Space Act ( 1958 ) Space Task Group ( 1958 ) Paine ( 1986 ) Rogers ( 1986 ) Ride ( 1987 ) Space Exploration Initiative ( 1989 ) Augustine ( 1990 ) U.S. National Space Policy ( 1996 ) CFUSAI ( 2002 ) CAIB ( 2003 ) Vision for Space Exploration ( 2004 ) Aldridge ( 2004 ) Augustine ( 2009 ) General Space Race Administrator and Deputy Administrator Chief Scientist Astronaut Corps Budget Spin - off technologies NASA TV NASA Social Launch Services Program Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building Launch Complex 39 Launch Control Center Johnson Space Center Mission Control Lunar Sample Laboratory Robotic programs Past Hitchhiker Mariner Mariner Mark II MESUR Mars Surveyor ' 98 New Millennium Lunar Orbiter Pioneer Planetary Observer Ranger Surveyor Viking Project Prometheus Mars Scout Current Living With a Star Lunar Precursor Robotic Program Earth Observing System Great Observatories program Explorer Small explorer Voyager Discovery New Frontiers Mars Exploration Rover Human spaceflight programs Past X-15 ( suborbital ) Mercury Gemini Apollo Apollo -- Soyuz Test Project ( with the Soviet space program ) Skylab Space Shuttle Shuttle -- Mir ( with Roscosmos State Corporation ) Constellation Current International Space Station Commercial Orbital Transportation Services ( COTS ) Commercial Crew Development ( CCDev ) Orion Individual featured missions ( human and robotic ) Past COBE Apollo 11 Mercury 3 Mercury - Atlas 6 Magellan Pioneer 10 Pioneer 11 Galileo GALEX GRAIL WMAP Space Shuttle Sojourner rover Spirit rover LADEE MESSENGER Aquarius Cassini Currently operating MRO 2001 Mars Odyssey Dawn New Horizons Kepler International Space Station Hubble Space Telescope Spitzer RHESSI Swift THEMIS Mars Exploration Rover Curiosity rover timeline Opportunity rover observed GOES 14 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter GOES 15 Van Allen Probes SDO Juno Mars Science Laboratory timeline NuSTAR Voyager 1 / 2 WISE MAVEN MMS OSIRIS - REx Future JPSS James Webb Space Telescope WFIRST InSight Mars 2020 NISAR Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite Europa Clipper Communications and navigation Canberra Deep Space Atomic Clock Deep Space Network ( Goldstone Madrid Near Earth Network Space Flight Operations Facility ) Space Network NASA lists Astronauts by name by year Apollo astronauts List of NASA aircraft List of NASA missions unmanned missions List of NASA contractors List of United States rockets List of NASA cancellations List of Space Shuttle missions crews NASA images and artwork Earthrise The Blue Marble Family Portrait Pale Blue Dot Pillars of Creation Mystic Mountain Solar System Family Portrait The Day the Earth Smiled Fallen Astronaut Lunar plaques Pioneer plaques Voyager Golden Record NASA insignia Gemini and Apollo medallions Mission patches Category Jet Propulsion Laboratory Current missions ACRIMSAT AIRS ASTER Dawn GRACE - FO InSight / Mars Cube One Juno W.M. Keck Observatory Kepler 2001 Mars Odyssey LBT MER MISR MLS MRO MSL Spitzer Space Telescope TES Voyager Past missions Cassini - Huygens Deep Impact Deep Space 1 Deep Space 2 Explorers GALEX Galileo Genesis GRACE Herschel IRAS Jason - 1 Magellan Mariner Mars Climate Orbiter Mars Observer Mars Pathfinder Mars Polar Lander Mars Global Surveyor NSCAT Phoenix Pioneer QuikSCAT Ranger Rosetta Seasat SIR SME Stardust SRTM Surveyor SVLBI TOPEX / Poseidon Ulysses Viking WFPC WIRE Cancelled missions AFL Related organizations NASA Caltech NASA Deep Space Network Goldstone Complex Table Mountain Observatory Solar System Ambassadors Jet Propulsion Laboratory Science Division Near - Earth Asteroid Tracking Space Flight Operations Facility ← 2002 Orbital launches in 2003 2004 → Coriolis ICESat CHIPSat STS - 107 ( SpaceHab RDM EDO ) SORCE USA - 166 XSS - 10 Progress M - 47 Intelsat 907 USA - 167 IGS - 1A IGS - 1B USA - 168 Molniya - 1 No. 92 USA - 169 INSAT - 3A Galaxy 12 AsiaSat - 4 Kosmos 2397 Soyuz TMA - 2 GALEX GSAT - 2 Hayabusa ( Minerva ) Hellas Sat 2 Beidou 1C Mars Express ( Beagle 2 ) Kosmos 2398 AMC - 9 Progress M1 - 10 Thuraya 2 Spirit Optus and Defence C1 BSAT - 2c Molniya - 3 No. 53 Orbview - 3 Monitor - E GVM MIMOSA DTUSat MOST Cute - I QuakeSat AAU - Cubesat CanX - 1 Cubesat XI - IV Opportunity Rainbow 1 EchoStar IX Kosmos 2399 SCISAT - 1 Kosmos 2400 Kosmos 2401 Spitzer Progress M - 48 USA - 170 USA - 171 PS - 2 Mozhaets - 4 NigeriaSat - 1 UK - DMC BILSAT - 1 Larets STSAT - 1 Rubin - 4 e-Bird INSAT - 3E SMART - 1 Galaxy 13 / Horizons - 1 Shenzhou 5 Resourcesat - 1 Soyuz TMA - 3 USA - 172 CBERS - 2 Chuang Xin 1 SERVIS - 1 FSW - 18 Shen Tong 1 Yamal - 201 Yamal - 202 IGS - 2A IGS - 2B USA - 173 Gruzomaket Kosmos 2402 Kosmos 2403 Kosmos 2404 USA - 174 USA - 175 Amos - 2 Ekspress AM22 Tan Ce 1 Payloads are separated by bullets ( ), launches by pipes ( ). Manned flights are indicated in bold text. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in brackets. 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Question: what wavelength light does the spitzer space telescope measure
Answer: infrared, 3.6–160 µm