Cosmic Background Explorer

Cosmic Background Explorer
Artist's concept of the COBE spacecraft
NamesExplorer 66
COBE
Mission typeCosmic microwave background Astronomy
OperatorNASA
COSPAR ID1989-089A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.20322
Websitelambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/cobe
Mission duration6 months (planned)
4 years, 1 month and 4 days (achieved)
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftExplorer LXVI
Spacecraft typeCosmic Background Explorer
BusCOBE
ManufacturerGoddard Space Flight Center
Launch mass2,206 kg (4,863 lb) [1]
Dry mass1,408 kg (3,104 lb) [2]
Dimensions5.49 × 2.44 m (18.0 × 8.0 ft)
Power750 watts
Start of mission
Launch date18 November 1989, 14:34 UTC
RocketDelta 5920-8 (Delta 189)
Launch siteVandenberg, SLC-2W
ContractorDouglas Aircraft Company
Entered service18 November 1989
End of mission
Deactivated23 December 1993
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit[3]
RegimeSun-synchronous orbit
Perigee altitude900 km (560 mi)
Apogee altitude900 km (560 mi)
Inclination99.00°
Period103.00 minutes
Instruments
Differential Microwave Radiometer (DMR)
Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE)
Far-InfraRed Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS)

Cosmic Background Explorer mission patch
← AMPTE-CCE (Explorer 65)
Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (Explorer 67) →

The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE /ˈkbi/ KOH-bee), also referred to as Explorer 66, was a NASA satellite dedicated to cosmology, which operated from 1989 to 1993. Its goals were to investigate the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB or CMBR) of the universe and provide measurements that would help shape our understanding of the cosmos.

COBE's measurements provided two key pieces of evidence that supported the Big Bang theory of the universe: that the CMB has a near-perfect black-body spectrum, and that it has very faint anisotropies. Two of COBE's principal investigators, George F. Smoot III and John C. Mather, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006 for their work on the project. According to the Nobel Prize committee, "the COBE project can also be regarded as the starting point for cosmology as a precision science".[4]

COBE was the second cosmic microwave background satellite, following RELIKT-1, and was followed by two more advanced spacecraft: the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) operated from 2001 to 2010 and the Planck spacecraft from 2009 to 2013.

  1. ^ "COBE Mission Design, Spacecraft and Orbit". Goddard Space Flight Center. 18 April 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2015. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ^ Crouse, Megan (16 July 2015). "Cosmic Background Explorer". Product Design & Development. Retrieved 21 July 2015.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "Trajectory: COBE (1989-089A)". NASA. 28 October 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 2006". The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 3 October 2006. Retrieved 23 August 2011.

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