Mar 10 1995
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
Several NASA-built components of the Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS)-the first Japanese orbiting telescope dedicated to infrared astronomy-will be launched aboard Japan's Space Flyer Unit (SFU) on March 15 from Japan. U.S. scientists, in collaboration with Japanese colleagues, built two of the four IRTS instruments. One is the Mid-Infrared Spectrometer (MIRS), which will observe wavelengths between 5 and 12 microns. The two-pound MIRS will provide measurements "100-1000 times more sensitive" than before. The second component is the Far-Infrared Photometer (FIRP) which will image between 150 and 700 microns. The SFU is scheduled to be captured in-orbit by the Shuttle Endeavour during mission STS-72, scheduled for December 1995. After several days of systems checks, the SFU will be boosted by onboard rockets to a 500 km circular orbit. (NASA Release 95-24)
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