Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics
| ASCA | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Type: | X-ray satellite |
| Country: |
 Japan United States
|
| Operator: | ISAS / NASA |
| COSPAR-ID : | 1993-011A |
| Mission dates | |
| Dimensions: | 420 kg |
| Begin: | February 20, 1993, 02:20 UTC |
| Starting place: | Kagoshima |
| Launcher: | M-3S-2 -7 |
| Status: | burned up on March 2, 2001 |
| Orbit data | |
| Rotation time : | 96.1 min |
| Orbit inclination : | 31.1 ° |
| Apogee height : | 615 km |
| Perigee height : | 524 km |
The Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics (ASCA) , also known as ASTRO-D or Asuka, was a Japanese-American space telescope for X-ray astronomy .
ASCA was the fourth Japanese X-ray satellite and was developed by the Japanese Institute for Space Research ISAS together with NASA . ASCA was launched from the Kagoshima Space Center on February 20, 1993 by an M-3S-2 rocket into low earth orbit at a 31.5 degree incline. The satellite was in operation until July 14, 2000, when the attitude control failed in a geomagnetic storm. On March 2, 2001, it burned up in the earth's atmosphere over the western Pacific.
ASCA had four identical Wolter- type X-ray telescopes with an effective total area of 1300 cm 2 at 1 keV energy and 600 cm 2 at 6–7 keV. ASCA was the first X-ray observatory to use CCD detectors behind two of its four X-ray telescopes, with which the energy of the X-ray photons could be measured more precisely than with previous detector systems. X-ray spectra recorded in this way primarily contributed to a better understanding of active galactic nuclei and the matter surrounding them. The other two telescopes had imaging proportional counters as detectors.
Web links
- NASA: The ASCA Mission (1993–2000) (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ ASCA in the NSSDCA Master Catalog , accessed June 21, 2012.
- ^ ASCA Reentry. NASA, March 2, 2001, accessed June 21, 2012 .