The Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite

Author

Goldsmith, P.F. ; Dalgarno, A. ; Erickson, N.R. ; Fazio, G.G. ; Harwit, M. ; Hollenbach, D.J. ; Koch, D.G. ; Melnick, G.J. ; Neufeld, D.A. ; Schieder, R. ; Snell, R.L. ; Stauffer, J. ; Thaddeus, P. ; Winnewisser, G.F.

fYear

1991

fDate

10-14 July 1991

Firstpage

395

Abstract

The Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) was selected for development and flight by NASA in 1989 as one of the initial payloads in the Small Explorer program. SWAS is designed to carry out submillimeter astronomical observations of spectral lines from space. Spectral lines of H/sub 2/, O/sub 2/, /sup 13/CO, and atomic carbon, which are extremely difficult to observe from the ground but which are potentially important tracers of the structure of dense clouds in the interstellar medium, will be simultaneously observed with high spectral resolution. Incoming radiation will be collected by a 55-cm*71-cm offset Cassegrain antenna, with an aggregate surface error >

Keywords

artificial satellites; radiotelescopes; submillimetre astronomy; /sup 13/CO; 1.4 GHz; 55 cm; 71 cm; H/sub 2/; NASA; O/sub 2/; SWAS; Small Explorer program; Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite; acoustooptical spectrometer; atomic C; bandwidth; cooled Schottky-diode harmonic mixers; frequency resolution; frequency-tripled phase-locked Gunn oscillator; inler; interstellar medium; offset Cassegrain antenna; receiver front end; submillimeter astronomical observations; Aggregates; Astronomy; Atomic measurements; Clouds; Frequency; Gunn devices; NASA; Oscillators; Payloads; Satellites;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest, 1991., IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Boston, MA, USA

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

0-87942-591-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.1991.147017

Filename

147017