Spitzer Space Telescope

Infrared Telescope Facility, SIRTF

Mission Profile

Spitzer Space Telescope (Space Infrared Telescope Facility, SIRTF) was NASA's infrared Great Observatory, launched on 25 August 2003 aboard a Delta II into an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit that drifted away from Earth to provide an exceptionally cold operating environment. Sensitive to wavelengths from 3.6 to 160 micrometers, Spitzer observed dusty star-forming regions, brown dwarfs, planetary debris disks, and galaxies obscured in visible light, discovering organics in protostellar clouds and water vapor in debris disks. After its primary cryogenic coolant was exhausted in 2009, Spitzer continued 'warm' operations at its two shortest wavelength bands, discovering new planetary candidates and characterizing exoplanet atmospheres through transmission spectroscopy. The mission operated for 16.5 years before being retired on 30 January 2020, leaving an extraordinary legacy in infrared astronomy.