The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) is a space-based telescope operated by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. FUSE was launched on a Delta II rocket on June 24, 1999, as a part of NASA's Origins program. FUSE detected light in the far ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, between 90.5-119.5 nanometres, which is mostly unobservable by other telescopes. Read more
Euthanising an old and crippled satellite isn't as simple as flipping a switch or pulling a plug. In fact, scientists and engineers at the Johns Hopkins University worked unexpectedly late into the afternoon yesterday, trying to drain the stubborn batteries of NASA's orbiting FUSE observatory and putting to rest an eight-year mission that tested their ingenuity and patience to the very end.
The intrepid never-say-die space telescope known as FUSE has finally reached its mission's end and will be turned off after more than eight years of discoveries on everything from planets and nearby stars to galaxies and quasars billions of light-years away. The satellite's control room on the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus will go dark on Oct. 18, leaving the satellite itself its pointing system so often pulled from the brink of inoperability by enterprising engineers and scientists in that control room to continue circling the Earth. Eventually, decades from now, its orbit will decay and the satellite will burn up in the atmosphere.
After a hibernation of two years, the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE ) telescope is operating normally again.
The orbiting telescope returned to full strength last month after engineers fixed the problem with its onboard software control system.
Originally, the spacecraft used six ring-laser gyroscopes to monitor changes in orientation, two for each position axis. However, in 2001, two of the telescope's four reaction wheels, which control its direction, failed, but resumed again two months later. In 2004, a third reaction wheel stopped spinning.
"The recovery of FUSE operations is a tremendous testament to the dedication and ingenuity of the scientists and engineers at Johns Hopkins and at the Orbital Sciences Corporation. There are a large number of astronomers in line waiting for FUSE observations that are now being undertaken once again" - Warren Moos, professor of physics and astronomy and principal investigator for FUSE.
FUSE was launched in 1999, and managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre. The FUSE satellite can see the short wavelengths of the far ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The craft can make high-resolution spectrographic observations of interstellar gas clouds.