Part of the objective of the cooled infrared telescope on Spacelab 2 was to determine the particle environment around the Space Shuttle. The telescope scanned the sky in six wavelength bands ranging from 2 to 100 microns with high time resolution. Dust particles could be identified from their particular signature in the data stream. Particle data from about 4 h early in the mission were analyzed in terms of size, color temperature, velocity, and time. The 1100 particles that were seen were slow moving and ranged in color temperature from 190 to 350 K with a few much hotter. The minimum detectable diameter is between 5 and 13 microns, depending on temperature. The size distribution resembles sample distributions collected at a Shuttle preparation facility. Although particle detection rates varied widely with time, no specific events were identified to be associated with particle production. It was not possible to determine the particle composition, although it was probably not ice.


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    Title :

    Particle sightings by the infrared telescope on Spacelab 2


    Contributors:
    Simpson, J. P. (author) / Witteborn, F. C. (author) / Graps, A. (author) / Fazio, G. G. (author) / Koch, D. G. (author)


    Publication date :

    1993-04-01



    Type of media :

    Miscellaneous


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    Particle sightings by the infrared telescope on Spacelab 2

    SIMPSON, J. P. / WITTEBORN, F. C. / GRAPS, A. et al. | AIAA | 1993



    Spacelab Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF)

    F.C. Witteborn / L.S. Young | AIAA | 1976


    Sensitive observations with the Spacelab 2 infrared telescope

    Young, E. T. / Rieke, G. H. / Gautier, T. N. et al. | NTRS | 1983