NASA Space Telescope Terminated

NASA’s space based infrared telescope, Spitzer, has been decommissioned after 16 years of studying the universe. Initially, the space agency planned to keep it in service till 2009. And by that time, it had already accomplish its primary objectives as well as exhausted its liquid helium coolant necessary for operating two of its three instruments. (Infrared Spectrograph, Multiband Imaging Photometer)

However, its engineers and scientists were able to keep it running for another 10.5 years using only two out of four wavelength channels on the third instrument, the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC). In 2016, it was decided that the Spitzer mission be closed in 2018. But, due to the delays that pushed back the launch of its successor, James Webb Space Telescope, Spitzer continued to operate till today.

It was one of NASA’s four Great Observatories, which included the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. At launch, Spitzer was the most sensitive infrared telecope in history. It gave scientists a deeper and further view into the cosmos than any telescope preceding it.

Spitzer studied comets and asteroids in our solar system, star and planet formation, as well as the evolution of galaxies from the ancient universe to today, and the composition of interstellar dust. According to the space agency, Spitzer’s most notable discovery was that of seven Earth-size planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. It is said to be the largest number of terrestrial planets to orbit a single star.

As of 2:30 p.m. PST (5:30 p.m. EST) on Thursday, the spacecraft was placed in safe mode, terminating its service and ending its mission for ever. The James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch in 2021. It should pick up where Spitzer left off, providing us with a better insight of the cosmos.