The Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS)
satellite is living up to the adage “good things come in
small packages,” as the suitcase-size spacecraft is entering
its second month of providing data to scientists about the
birthplace of solar systems.
Launched on Jan. 12, 2003, from Vandenberg Air Force Base,
Calif., CHIPS is exploring the very hot, very low-density
gas in the vast spaces between the stars, known as the
interstellar medium, searching for important clues about the
formation and evolution of galaxies.
The interstellar medium literally contains the seeds of
future stars. All the stars we see were once formed out of
the same kind of diffuse gas and dust. When the gas cools
and collapses, it forms clumps that scientists believe
evolve into stars and planets. One of the biggest puzzles in
astrophysics is the process that turns this very diffuse,
dust, hot and cold gas into stars.
“We are very excited that the satellite and CHIPS instrument
are working as designed and providing excellent data,” said
Dr. Mark Hurwitz, CHIPS principal investigator from the
University of California, Berkeley. “We look forward to
gathering data during the next 12 months on this fairly
unexplored region of space,” he said.
After being in space a mere three weeks, CHIPS began
gathering data February 2. Hurwitz said during the early
phase of science operations, the teams will continue to fine
tune the spacecraft and science instrument. Since the CHIPS
satellite launch, the operations team at SpaceDev in Poway,
Calif., and the science team at Berkeley, have been checking
out the spacecraft’s power, thermal and control systems,
communications, and initializing the scientific instrument.
The CHIPS mission, the first NASA University-Class Explorer
(UNEX) mission, cost about $16 million, which includes
flight hardware, integration and launch vehicle, data
analysis and mission operations.
The Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters, Washington
sponsors the mission. The project is managed at NASA’s
Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va., and the
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
For detailed information about CHIPS and its mission on the
Internet, visit:
or
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2002/1217chips.html
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