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Themes > Science > Physics > Astrophysics > The History of High-Energy Astrophysics > 1990-1994 |
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Nov 1, 1994 |
Launch of GGS-WIND carrying the Transient Gamma Ray Spectrometer (TGRS) and Konus gamma-ray burst instrument (still operational). |
Oct 11, 1994 |
Termination of the Magellan mission to Venus when the spacecraft entered the Venusian atmosphere; the primary goal of this mission was to make the most highly detailed maps of this planet ever using a sophisticated imaging radar.. |
Dec 23, 1993 |
End of scientific operations of the COsmic Background Explorer (COBE), a NASA mission whose primary goals were to study the spectrum and anisotropy of the cosmic 3 degree K background in the energy band from 0.1 to 10 mm, and the spectrum and angular distribution of the diffuse infrared background in the IR and far-IR bands (1 to 300 microns). |
Aug 21, 1993 |
An explosion from the rocket propulsion system destroys Mars Observer when it attempts to maneuver into a Martian orbit. It is the first interplanetary probe lost by NASA. Lost with it is the interplanetary gamma-ray burst detector network consisting of Mars Observer, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, and the Ulysses solar probe. |
Jun 23, 1993 |
Recovery of the EURECA free-flyer by the Shuttle. |
Apr 25, 1993 |
Launch of the Array of Low Energy X-ray Imaging Systems (ALEXIS) (still operational). |
Feb 20, 1993 |
Launch of the fourth Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite, Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics (ASCA), known as Astro D prior to launch. |
Sep 25, 1992 |
Launch of Mars Observer. |
Aug 7, 1992 |
Release of the EURECA free-flyer from the Shuttle. |
Oct 8, 1992 |
Pioneer Venus Orbiter enters the Venusian atmosphere. At the time of its demise, the Orbiter had been a functioning anchor in various interplanetary gamma-ray burst detection networks for over 14 years. |
Jul 1992 |
The Gamma satellite ceases operations. This Soviet-led mission had as its principal instrument the Gamma-1 telescope, a gamma-ray detector sensitive to gamma-rays with energies from 50 MeV to 6 GeV. |
Jun 7, 1992 |
Launch of NASA's Extreme UltraViolet Explorer (EUVE). |
Nov 1, 1991 |
Ginga, the third Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite, ceases operation. |
Apr 5, 1991 |
Launch of Compton Gamma Ray Observatory by the Space Shuttle Atlantis. |
Dec 2, 1990 |
Launch of Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-35) carrying the Astro 1 payload. Astro 1 included three UV telescopes (UIT, HUT, & WUPPE) and the Broad Band X-Ray Telescope (BBXRT). |
Nov 1990 |
Establishment of the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) at GSFC. |
Oct 6, 1990 |
Launch of Ulysses from the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-41) (still operational). |
Jul 11, 1990 |
Launch of the Russian Gamma satellite. This Soviet-led mission had as its principal instrument the Gamma-1 telescope, a gamma-ray detector sensitive to gamma-rays with energies from 50 MeV to 6 GeV. |
Jun 1, 1990 |
Launch of Röntgen Satellit (ROSAT), an X-ray and EUV astronomy mission due to an international collaboration between Germany, the UK, and the US. This mission had two phases, an All-Sky Survey phase in which the spinning satellite mapped the entire sky in both X-rays and the EUV (and detected more than 100,000 discrete X-ray sources), and a pointed observation phase in which the satellite could make deep observations of selected positions in the sky. |
Apr 18, 1990 |
Launch of the Hubble Space Telescope (still operational). |
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