Spitzer Space Telescope: discontinued after 17 years of service and swallowed by the sun

On May 17, 2020, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope was officially decommissioned after 17 years of use. NASA later decided to "evict" the telescope into a heliocentric orbit where it would eventually be engulfed by the sun.

The Spitzer Space Telescope was originally planned to operate for 5 years. During this period, astronomers discovered many newly formed stars and assisted in the observation of exoplanets, providing a large amount of data support for related research.

According to ITBEAR Technology Information, all functions of the Spitzer Space Telescope are still operating normally, but the main problem is that the liquid helium on board has been exhausted and it cannot maintain the operation of some scientific instruments.

In order to repurpose the Spitzer Space Telescope, Rhea Space Agency plans to launch a telescope named "Spitzer" in 2026 Resurrector's small spacecraft, which is a cube with a side length of 1 meter. After three years of pursuit, it will approach and fly around the Spitzer Space Telescope, approximately 50 to 100 kilometers away from the telescope. The spacecraft will evaluate The status of the telescope and try to re-establish communications.

If things go well, the robot will transmit data from the Spitzer Telescope, allowing scientists to continue using the telescope for observations.

The project has Received $250,000 in financial support from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Blue Sun Enterprises, Lockheed Martin and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, among others.

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