NEWS:   AVUM Contributes To Successful Spitzer Launch!
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Avum Contributes to Successful Development and Launch of Space Infrared Telescope

NASA's launch of the Spitzer Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) from Cape Canaveral, Florida on August 25 generated an enormous amount of interest from a broad spectrum of observers, including astronomers, the general scientific community, and amateur stargazers. But few could have been as interested as AVUM aerospace engineers, who have made significant contributions to the development and launch of the mission.

"Of course, a major launch like this is very exciting, but there is also a degree of anxiety as all of our hard work is put to test," says Hank Mora, AVUM Executive Vice President. "We are extremely pleased with the success of the launch so far."

During its two and one-half to five year mission, Spitzer will obtain images and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects in space between wavelengths of 3 and 180 microns (1 micron is one-millionth of a meter). Most of this infrared radiation is blocked by the Earth's atmosphere and cannot be observed from the ground.

AVUM has provided systems engineering and architecture design for the Spitzer program, including thermal design, pointing control testing and design, fault protection, ascent event software definition, cryostat motor control design and testing, temperature and position measurement electronics, software simulator design.

Preliminary images transmitted from the telescope have been successful, and Mora says they will soon be even better. "We are anxious to begin seeing the results of the mission once the in-orbit checkout, calibration, and science verification period has been completed. That's when we should start seeing some really amazing images - stuff never seen before."

Spitzer is the largest infrared telescope ever launched into space. Its highly sensitive instruments will allow scientists to examine regions of space which are hidden from optical telescopes. Infrared light can penetrate the vast, dense clouds of gas and dust which block the view of many areas of space. Scientists anticipate previously unseen views of regions of star formation, brown dwarfs, the centers of galaxies, and newly forming planetary systems.

"It has been a privilege for AVUM to work on the Spitzer project, the final mission in NASA's Great Observatories Program," adds Mora. "It's hard not to get excited by a mission that could provide many answers about our cosmic origins. It has been challenging work, but the potential scientific benefits of the mission are enormous."

For more information on Spitzer, please visit http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/about/index.shtml