COBE Program

NASA’s Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Program launched on 18 November 1989 to measure and map the cosmic microwave and infrared backgrounds from the early universe. Its FIRAS instrument measured the cosmic microwave background’s near-perfect blackbody spectrum and its DMR instrument detected the tiny anisotropies that seeded cosmic structure, results that helped establish precision cosmology and earned Nobel recognition.

Identity

Aliases: COBECosmic Background ExplorerCosmic Background Explorer Satellite
Domains: spaceflight
Name: COBE Program
Status: completed
Types: scienceresearchoperationsdevelopment

Details

Description: NASA’s Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Program launched on 18 November 1989 to measure and map the cosmic microwave and infrared backgrounds from the early universe. Its FIRAS instrument measured the cosmic microwave background’s near-perfect blackbody spectrum and its DMR instrument detected the tiny anisotropies that seeded cosmic structure, results that helped establish precision cosmology and earned Nobel recognition.
End Date: 1993-12-23
Leads
Participants: -
Start Date: 1989-11-18

Assets & Meta

Creation Time: August 13, 2026 at 15:16:50 UTC
Updated Time: August 13, 2026 at 15:16:50 UTC

Other

Official Urls: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/cobe/https://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/cobe/https://science.nasa.gov/missions/explorer/measuring-the-big-bang-with-the-cobe-satellite/