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Spitzer Space Telescope mission designThis paper gives a description of the mission design, launch, orbit, and navigation results for the Spitzer space telescope mission. The Spitzer telescope was launched by the Delta II Heavy launch vehicle into a heliocentric Earth trailing orbit. This orbit is flown for the first time and will be used by several future astronomical missions such as Kepler, SIM, and LISA. This paper describes the launch strategy for a winter versus a summer launch and how it affects communications. It also describes how the solar orbit affects the design and operations of the Observatory. It describes the actual launch timeline, launch vehicle flight performance, and the long term behavior of the as flown orbit. It also provides the orbit knowledge from in-flight navigation data.
Document ID
20060043853
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Kwok, Johnny H.
Garcia, Mark D.
Bonfiglio, Eugene
Long, Stacia M.
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
June 21, 2004
Subject Category
Instrumentation And Photography
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation 2004
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Country: United Kingdom
Start Date: June 21, 2004
End Date: June 24, 2004
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Mission Design
Earth trailing orbit
solar orbit
Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF)
Spitzer

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