Compton Gamma Ray Observatory Program

NASA’s Compton Gamma Ray Observatory Program was the second Great Observatory, launched on 5 April 1991 and safely deorbited on 4 June 2000. The 17-ton observatory carried four instruments spanning 30 keV to 30 GeV, achieving more than tenfold sensitivity improvements over previous missions across gamma-ray bursts, hard X-rays, and high-energy gamma-ray astronomy.

Identity

Aliases: Compton Gamma Ray ObservatoryCGROCompton ObservatoryGamma Ray Observatory
Domains: spaceflight
Name: Compton Gamma Ray Observatory Program
Status: completed
Types: scienceresearchoperationsdevelopment

Details

Description: NASA’s Compton Gamma Ray Observatory Program was the second Great Observatory, launched on 5 April 1991 and safely deorbited on 4 June 2000. The 17-ton observatory carried four instruments spanning 30 keV to 30 GeV, achieving more than tenfold sensitivity improvements over previous missions across gamma-ray bursts, hard X-rays, and high-energy gamma-ray astronomy.
End Date: 2000-06-04
Leads
Participants: -
Start Date: 1991-04-05

Assets & Meta

Creation Time: August 13, 2026 at 15:15:08 UTC
Updated Time: August 13, 2026 at 15:15:08 UTC

Other

Official Urls: https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/cgro/https://science.nasa.gov/mission/compton-gamma-ray-observatory/