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EUVE Space Probe
Turned Off
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NASA shut down the
Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) spacecraft by placing it into a
safe hold on January 31 at one second before midnight UTC. EUVE was
launched into 547 km (295 nmi) low-Earth orbit on June 7, 1992. EUVE
was the first spacecraft to observe the universe at extreme
ultraviolet (EUV) wavelengths, a region of the spectrum  at
wavelengths between 70 and 700 angstroms that lies between
ultraviolet and more energetic x-rays. The 3275 kg (7218 lbm)
spacecraft was NASA’s 67th Explorer class mission. EUVE
will remain in orbit, for about one more year as its orbit gradually
decays. EUVE's lack of an on-board propulsion system capable of
boosting its orbit or targeting its eventual re-entry means the
craft will simply fall back to Earth in an un-controlled manner in
late 2001 or early 2002. The satellite was planned to have conducted
observations in space for only three years, but with repeated
successes, NASA extended the EUVE mission two times. With about US$1
million of additional funding long-term science projects using the
spacecraft could have continued until its demise, but NASA argued
that even though the amount of funding requested was small, it was
money that could be better spent elsewhere, and Congressional
support could not be generated. NASA has no plans for the
foreseeable future for a follow-on mission to EUVE.
During
its eight years in orbit, EUVE provided insight into a wide range of
astronomical phenomena. EUVE detected more than 1,000 sources of EUV
radiation, including more than three dozen outside the Milky Way
galaxy. EUVE observations of several comets detected soft x-ray
emissions caused by the interaction of charged particles from the
solar wind with neutral atoms and molecules from the comets.
Observations of distant stars allowed astronomers to study their
coronae (extremely hot outer atmospheres) and compare them with the
Sun's corona in an effort to understand how they are heated. EUVE
was also used in joint observations with the Chandra X-ray
Observatory to help calibrate some of Chandra's instruments.
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