Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer
Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer | |
---|---|
Type: | X-ray telescope |
Country: | United States |
Operator: | NASA |
COSPAR-ID : | 1995-074A |
Mission dates | |
Dimensions: | 3200 kg |
Begin: | December 30, 1995, 13:48 UTC |
Starting place: | Cape Canaveral , LC-17A |
Launcher: | Delta-II-7920-10 D230 |
Status: | inactive from January 5, 2012, re-entry on April 30, 2018 |
Orbit data | |
Rotation time : | 96.1 min |
Orbit inclination : | 23 ° |
Apogee height : | 565 km |
Perigee height : | 583 km |
The Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (abbreviation: RXTE , Project Title: X-Ray Timing Explorer ( XTE )) is a three-axis stabilized orbital X-ray satellite , the rapidly varying for the observation of high-energy X-ray sources, such as black holes , neutron stars , X - pulsars or other X-ray bursts started.
The telescope , named after the Italian astrophysicist Bruno Rossi , was launched on December 30, 1995 by a Delta-II-7920-10 rocket into a 580-kilometer-high, almost circular orbit with a 23 ° inclination to the equator.
After 16 years of use, the satellite was deactivated by NASA on January 5, 2012 . The three-axis stabilization was switched off and the RXTE was set in rotation. The Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer was then (January 2012) in a 460 kilometer high orbit with unchanged inclination and should enter the earth's atmosphere between 2014 and 2023. A more precise prediction of the entry date was not possible due to the fluctuations in solar activity .
After 16 years of work in orbit, it reentered the Earth's atmosphere on April 30, 2018 .
In 1999 , Hale Bradt and Jean Swank received the Bruno Rossi Prize for observations with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer .
Web links
- RXTE site of NASA (English)
- NASA article on the observation of the spin of pulsars with RXTE (English)
- Press release of the NASA to rename XTE in RXTE (English)
- X-Ray Timing Explorer in the NSSDCA Master Catalog (English)
- The Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer Project , MIT (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ XTE in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
- ↑ a b Gunter's Space Page: Explorer: XTE (RXTE, Rossi) , accessed: February 16, 2012
- ↑ A Diagram of the RXTE Delta II Launch Vehicle on a page of NASA's HEASARC
- ↑ Chris Peat: XTE - Orbit. In: heavens-above. Retrieved April 12, 2012 .
- ↑ Stephen Clark: NASA turns off aging Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer in Spaceflight Now , Date: January 9, 2012, Accessed: January 12, 2012