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NEOWISE

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
WISE artist concept (PIA17254, crop).jpg
Artist concept of WISE spacecraft
Names MIDEX/WISE, Explorer 92
Mission type Infrared telescope
Operator NASA / JPL
COSPAR ID 2009-071A
SATCAT № 36119
Website http://www.nasa.gov/wise
Mission duration Planned: 10 months
Elapsed: 7 years, 1 month, 9 days
Spacecraft properties
Bus Ball Aerospace RS-300
Manufacturer Ball Aerospace
Lockheed Martin
Space Dynamics Laboratory
SSG Precision Optronics
Launch mass 661 kg (1,457 lb)
Payload mass 347 kg (765 lb)
Dimensions 2.85 × 2 × 1.73 m (9.4 × 6.6 × 5.7 ft)
Power 551 W
Start of mission
Launch date December 14, 2009, 14:09:33 (2009-12-14UTC14:09:33Z) UTC
Rocket Delta II 7320-10
Launch site Vandenberg SLC-2W
Contractor United Launch Alliance
Orbital parameters
Reference system Sun-synchronous polar
Regime Low Earth
Semi-major axis 6,869.7 km (4,268.6 mi)
Eccentricity 0.000472
Perigee 488.3 km (303.4 mi)
Apogee 494.8 km (307.5 mi)
Inclination 97.5°
Period 94.45 min
RAAN 156.3°
Argument of perigee 103.1°
Mean anomaly 257.05°
Mean motion 15.25°
Velocity 7.6 km/s (4.7 mi/s)
Epoch May 21, 2015, 03:00:06 UTC
Revolution number 30060
Main telescope
Diameter 0.4 m (1.3 ft)
Wavelengths 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 microns
Instruments
Four infrared detectors

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is a NASA infrared-wavelength astronomical space telescope launched in December 2009, and placed in hibernation in February 2011 when its transmitter turned off. It was re-activated in 2013. WISE discovered thousands of minor planets and numerous star clusters. Its observations also supported the discovery of the first Y Dwarf and Earth trojan asteroid.

WISE performed an all-sky astronomical survey with images in 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 μm wavelength range bands, over ten months using a 40 cm (16 in) diameter infrared telescope in Earth orbit. After its hydrogen coolant depleted, a four-month mission extension called NEOWISE was conducted to search for near-Earth objects such as comets and asteroids using its remaining capability.

The All-Sky data including processed images, source catalogs and raw data, was released to the public on March 14, 2012, and is available at the Infrared Science Archive. In August 2013, NASA announced it would reactivate the WISE telescope for a new three-year mission to search for asteroids that could collide with Earth. Science operations and data processing for WISE and NEOWISE take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

In May 2016, significant asteroid data arising from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and NEOWISE missions have been questioned, but the criticism has yet to undergo peer review.


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