Jun 24 1999
From The Space Library
NASA successfully launched its Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) telescope aboard a Delta II rocket. FUSE's three-year mission was to measure the abundance of deuterium, or heavy hydrogen, which stars consume every day and convert to helium. Astronomers hoped that the study of deuterium would help them understand better "what the universe was like moments after creation." The FUSE scientists sought to determine how much deuterium still exists and how much of it stars consume regularly, thereby calculating "the original makeup of the universe." NASA had nearly cancelled the FUSE project in the early 1990s, because of cost overruns and missed deadlines, but in 1994 NASA had asked Johns Hopkins University to manage the project. Project managers at Johns Hopkins had scaled down the scientific instrument and used existing equipment instead of developing new technologies. The Canadian Space Agency had provided the camera, the French Space Agency had provided the spectrograph, and other U.S. universities had provided various parts for the telescope. Orbital Sciences Corporation had built the spacecraft using an existing design to reduce costs further. NASA considered the spacecraft and its launch a success; NASA's Science Director [[Edward J. Weiler] remarked, "We have never had a satellite as sensitive as FUSE.
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