DailyDirt: Space Telescopes Shutting Down...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Wed, Jul 3rd 2013 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Artificial satellites are usually expensive instruments that have a limited useful life. Voyager 1 is still going, though, and it's just about to cross into interstellar space. But normally, spacecraft don't have missions that last over three decades. Here are a few space-based telescopes that have either retired recently or are about to wind down.

NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (aka GALEX) has shut down after over a decade of observing galaxies in orbit around the Earth, and it was originally planned to have just a 29-month mission. This space telescope discovered a missing link in the evolution of galaxy evolution, and data from the instrument will continue to be analyzed for years to come. [url]
The European Space Agency (ESA) turned off the Herschel infrared space telescope as scheduled because it ran out of its supply of liquid helium. After collecting over 25,000 hours of data, this satellite has been placed in a "disposal" orbit. In 2011, Herschel found the first confirmed evidence of oxygen molecules in space. [url]
French Space Agency CNES has terminated its CoRoT satellite for exoplanet hunting. CoRoT was the first instrument to find an exoplanet using the transit method, but it suffered a computer failure and can no longer transmit useful data. [url]
The Kepler space telescope has unexpectedly stopped functioning and isn't collecting data anymore. It's not officially dead because there's still a chance that it could recover. But if it doesn't come back, it still completed its mission of observing hundreds of exoplanets and has collected enough data to keep scientists busy for a long time. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: astronomy, exoplanets, galaxy, galex, kepler, orbit, satellites, space, telescopes
Companies: cnes, esa, nasa

10 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 3 Jul 2013 @ 5:13pm

More space junk. Yay!
Maybe After we mine an asteroid and bring back trillions in gold, we can afford to clean up our space waste..
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 3 Jul 2013 @ 7:19pm

And yet....
They have an assload of spy satellites up there, to the point they had two to donate to the underfunded NASA. They reach space with great telescopes and use it to look back on earth. What the /hell/ is wrong with our priorities!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
WulfTheSaxon (profile), 3 Jul 2013 @ 8:25pm

Re: And yet....
Spy satellites can actually lower defense spending, by showing that there�s nothing to worry about from potential adversaries.

Definitely true that NASA�s budget needs a huge increase, though. One survey suggested that people think NASA gets 20% of the federal budget, when it actually gets around 0.5% � down from a peak of over 4% during the Apollo program� Doubling it doesn�t seem unreasonable with that perspective.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Phos.... (profile), 3 Jul 2013 @ 10:19pm

"�galaxies in orbit around the Earth,�"
Wait. What?
Is there a Bat-Signal-type thing for summoning Phil Plait?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Tony Arcus, 4 Jul 2013 @ 12:27pm

orbit the earth....
I thought galaxy's were big
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Tony Arcus, 4 Jul 2013 @ 12:29pm

orbit the earth....
observing galaxies in orbit around the Earth. Some one needs a lesson in the scale of things.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
McCrea (profile), 5 Jul 2013 @ 8:20am

Re: orbit the earth....
No, both of you need a lesson in not taking things out of context.

"NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (aka GALEX) has shut down after over a decade of observing galaxies in orbit around the Earth, and it was originally planned to have just a 29-month mission."

let's remove one modifier and see if you can possibly understand what is intended:

"NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (aka GALEX) has shut down after over a decade in orbit around the Earth, and it was originally planned to have just a 29-month mission."
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Phos.... (profile), 5 Jul 2013 @ 10:30am

Context has nothing to do with the observation.
I suppose it's just too much to expect of writers to follow the basics tenets of their chosen pursuit, McCrea?
If they let it swing in the wind, it will get whacked on like a birthday pi�ata.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangling_participle
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 5 Jul 2013 @ 5:15pm

Re: And yet....
Obama killed the space shuttle program.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
McCrea (profile), 14 Jul 2013 @ 7:00pm

Re: Context has nothing to do with the observation.
Efficient discourse depends on understanding what is intended.
[ link to this | view in thread ]