Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published October 1, 1996 | public
Journal Article

The IRTS (Infrared Telescope in Space) Mission

Abstract

The Japanese satellite-borne infrared telescope, the Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS), has completed a successful survey of a portion of the infrared sky. The IRTS consists of a 15 cm telescope cooled with superfluid liquid helium, and is installed on board the Space Flyer Unit (SFU) spacecraft. The SFU was launched on 1995 March 18 UT. The sky survey by the IRTS started on March 29 UT, and was completed on April 25 UT after exhausting its liquid helium. The cryogenic system operated as designed, and maintained the telescope and the focal-plane instruments at a stable temperature of 1.9 K for 38 days. The four focal-plane instruments, which together covered almost the entire infrared wavelength range, observed a sky area of about 2700 deg2 and returned a wealth of new data on a variety of objects, including the zodiacal light, interstellar gas and dust, near-infrared cosmic background light and point sources.

Additional Information

© 1996 Astronomical Society of Japan. (Received 1996 July 12; accepted 1996 September 2) The authors would like to thank the SFU project team for their support in all aspects, including the integration of the instruments, the flight operation, and the preparation of data on the orbit and attitude of the spacecraft. The authors are grateful to Y. Doi, K. Mochizuki, and T. Tohya, who assisted us in the flight operation. The authors also thank IPAC for their help in the pointing reconstruction of the IRTS. T. Roellig and L. Yuen would like to acknowledge the support of NASA's grants program.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 25, 2023