Astrophysics (Index)About

Wide Field Infrared Explorer

(WIRE, Explorer 75, SMEX-5)
(partly-failed 1999 infrared satellite)

Wide Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE) was a 1999 NASA Small Explorer Program (SMEX) satellite intended to perform an infrared survey of the entire sky in the 21-27 micrometer and 9-15 micrometer bands. Its instruments were partially ruined during deployment by equipment failure. However the satellite worked well enough that it was used for photometric monitoring of bright stars for asteroseismology research. The satellite reentered the atmosphere in 2011.

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is a more recent mission with similar goals.

(telescope,reflector,spacecraft,infrared,past,NASA)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_Field_Infrared_Explorer
http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/wire/
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/wide-field-infrared-explorer-wire
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007CoAst.150..326B/abstract
https://appel.nasa.gov/2012/01/20/wire-learning-from-failure
https://appel.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/WIRE_case_study.pdf
https://llis.nasa.gov/llis_lib/pdf/1009462main1_0637-mr.pdf

Referenced by pages:
asteroseismology
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
IPAC
Index