The Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) was an astronomical observatory launched on December 5, 1998 as part of the Small Explorer program within NASA. Investigators at Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Goddard Space Flight Center designed the telescope and the spacecraft, respectively.
The satellite examined microwaves from 487-556 GHz that originated in water molecules, molecular oxygen, atomic carbon, and carbon monoxide in space.
SWAS made observations until July 21, 2004. In June 2005, the spacecraft was reactivated for a 3 month period (after a year of stand-by operation) in order to observe the effects of the Deep Impact probe's collision with comet P/Tempel 1.[1]
References
- ^ "The SWAS Mission". NASA. 2008. http://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/swas/. Retrieved on 2008-12-12.
External links
- SWAS homepage at Harvard
- Small Explorer project: Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS). Mission operations and data analysis plan
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