Spitzer Celebrates Fourth Anniversary with Celestial Fireworks

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=1445

Spitzer Celebrates Fourth Anniversary with Celestial Fireworks
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
August 24, 2007

A newly expanded image of the Helix nebula lends a festive touch to
the
fourth anniversary of the launch of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
This
spectacular object, a dying star unraveling into space, is a favorite
of
amateur and professional astronomers alike. Spitzer has mapped the
expansive outer structure of the six-light-year-wide nebula, and
probed
the inner region around the central dead star to reveal what appears
to
be a planetary system that survived the star's chaotic death throes.

Spitzer launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on August 25, 2003. In its
four years of operations, Spitzer has provided unprecedented infrared
views of objects as diverse as asteroids in our own solar system to
galaxies at the edge of the observable universe. Recent discoveries
include the first detection of water vapor on a planet orbiting
another
star and a titanic galactic collision five billion light-years away.

"With Spitzer, we have achieved scientific discoveries far beyond our
wildest expectations," said Michael Werner, project scientist for
Spitzer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "A large
part of our success is due to the smooth and efficient operations of
the
spacecraft."

Another cause for celebration is Spitzer's excellent technical
performance. Spitzer is the first infrared space telescope to use an
Earth-trailing orbit and passive cooling techniques, such as a sun
shield, to obtain the low temperatures required for an infrared
observatory. The design allowed for a much smaller tank of liquid-
helium
coolant, or cryogen, to chill the telescope, thereby slashing mission
costs.

The minimum expected lifetime of Spitzer was only two-and-one-half
years. Now, Spitzer's cryogen is expected to last much longer, giving
the mission a lifetime of more than five-and-one-half years.

"I think it's safe to say that the novel Spitzer design has been
validated," said Werner. "We've broken all records for the longest
lifetime using the smallest amount of cryogen, and we still have
another
year and a half to go."

JPL is responsible for the operations of the Spitzer spacecraft, while
science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft
engineering is carried out by Lockheed Martin, Denver, Colo., with
help
from Ball Aerospace Corporation, Boulder, Colo.

For more information about Spitzer, visit
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/spitzer or
http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer .

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Media contact: Whitney Clavin/JPL
818-354-4673

.