As the WISE Infrared Survey Warms Up to a New Role, We Look At Its Successes

I don't get why NASA makes all these cool things just to throw them away. Would it really be that hard or expensive to make the coolant tanks interchangeable and shoot another one up there when compared to launching a whole new satellite down the road?

@mcrane2653

According to my (very limited) knowledge, it's still less expensive to launch a whole new one than it is to fly up and refuel its coolant tanks. You can't just catapult a coolant tank up there. It's a delicate instrument that requires a delicate touch. Even with today's technology, that's tough stuff to do in space without a human present.

human in space = super costly.

I'm totally picking up what you're putting down though. Hopefully technological advancements will make this kind of waste a thing of the past.

A lot of people seem to expect this second round will find some brown dwarfs closer than Alpha Centauri. If it does, I'm sure they will try and keep it going as long as possible. The article doesn't quite say if the shorter-wave instruments can function indefinitely at the expected temperatures, or if it will just take four months to warm up too much. They might nurse it along for years if coolant isn't strictly needed now.

jdk

the WISE telescope cna continue to operate at the two highest wavelengths, the sunscreen will keep it cool enough to operate at 3.5 and 5 microns as long as the spacecraft can be kept under control. it has solar panels so it will not run out of power but will gradually run out of fuel for the attitude thrusters.. it should have a long life.. I hope the same is true for the funding. NEO-WISE is getting a supplemental funding of $400,000 per month for extended operation. it is pretty important to complete a second survey, which would last until at least january17the when the original survey started. ( the telescope can do two surveys a year for reasons of the orbital mechanics). objects nearer to earth move along in the same direction as earth in orbit so you have to go a bit beyond the January date to complete a 2X survey. Brown dwarfs and asteroids near the earth's orbit should show up on the continued survey.

I know that NASA will probably keep this thing up there doing as much as it possibly can for as long as it possibly can. I mean look at some of the other successful mission and tech they've made. There's the Phoenix rover on Mars that's vastly outlived it's original mission, the Hubble telescope outdid itself and the Space Shuttles (many times NASA's shame nowadays) have gone past their intended lifespan. Since funding is shaky for NASA at times and they've got some brilliant people (mistakes are still made i.e. a foot is not the same as a meter) working there, they make due with what they got. I think this satellite will be much the same story. Besides, if they can't fund it I wonder if there's a civilian scientific organization that would be willing to foot the bill. I don't even know if NASA would do that but you never know. There's a lot to learn out there.