SWAS Observatory Spacecraft

The SWAS observatory was the physical NASA Small Explorer spacecraft launched in December 1998 to measure submillimeter spectral lines from interstellar clouds. It entered standby in July 2004 and was reactivated on June 1, 2005 for Deep Impact support. Comet Tempel 1 observations ran from June 5 through September 1, 2005, the final observing date recorded here. Its three-axis-stabilized platform carried a 102 kg telescope and spectrometer instrument module.