Must be a melancholy moment to throw that switch

Far Ultraviolet Spectrographic Explorer shut down

Goodbye to FUSE, the Far ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer.  It was launched in 1999, and was only intended to last for three years.  Researchers figured out ever-more creative ways to keep it going as it rewarded their efforts with a continuing bounty of spectrographic data.

Imagine all the people from Angstrom to present, stretching our ability to know something about the chemical makeup of celestial objects.  And the FUSE crew, refusing to give up as long as data was coming in, finding new ways to keep machines working in space.  Without anthropomorphizing at all, it can be said that machine out there carries a bit of all of them.  With the final, irrevocable failure of a reaction wheel,  it’s finally over.  Until the next launch.

Posted by George on 10/17/07 at 08:48 PM
Science & Technology •

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