IRAS
IRAS was a joint NASA-Netherlands-United Kingdom mission that performed the first complete infrared survey of the sky from low Earth orbit, detecting hundreds of thousands of sources and finding new comets and circumstellar dust systems.
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Identity
- Aliases
- Infrared Astronomical Satellite missionIRAS mission
- Name
- IRAS
- Status
- completed
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- IRAS was a joint NASA-Netherlands-United Kingdom mission that performed the first complete infrared survey of the sky from low Earth orbit, detecting hundreds of thousands of sources and finding new comets and circumstellar dust systems.
- Destination
- Sun-synchronous polar Earth orbit at approximately 900 km altitude (99° inclination; 103-minute period)
- End Date
- 1983-11-21
- Launch Site
- Outcome
- IRAS surveyed more than 95 percent of the sky over roughly ten months before exhausting its liquid-helium coolant and ending science operations.
- Programs
- -
- Start Date
- 1983-01-26
- Vehicle Families
Links
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- August 1, 2026 at 08:38:43 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 25, 2026 at 03:32:22 UTC
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- Affiliations
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles