SWAS was launched successfully from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Pegasus XL rocket, December 5, 1998, at about 16:57 PST. Click HERE to see what happened. So far, the spacecraft and the instrument are performing beautifully.
SWAS, the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite, is a pathfinding mission which will study the chemical composition of interstellar galactic clouds to help determine the process of star formation. SWAS will be looking at water, molecular oxygen, atomic carbon, and isotopic carbon monoxide by examining their submillimeter wave radiation. This high frequency (487 - 556 GHz) radiation canot be detected from ground based observations because of atmospheric attenuation.
The SWAS spacecraft is a three-axis stabilized, stellar-pointed observatory with a pointing accuracy of 38 arcseconds and jitter less than 19 arcseconds. The spacecraft can point the science instrument at typically 3-5 targets per orbit.
The SWAS instrument is a submillimeter wave telescope which incorporates dual heterodyne radiometers and an acousto-optical spectrometer which are used to investigate the composition of dense interstellar clouds. See the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's SWAS page for a more detailed discussion of the instrument and science.
SWAS is the third mission in the Small Explorer program.
SWAS has completed integration and testing at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD and is scheduled for launch December 4, 1998 at about 16:40 PST.
Mission Manager:
Related pages include the SWAS page at UMass.
To acquire the latest SWAS Integration and Test Schedule, click here.
