Astronomy:CHIPSat

Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer satellite (CHIPSat)

Artist's impression of the CHIPSat spacecraft
Mission type	Astronomy
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	2003-002B
SATCAT no.	27643
Website	chips.ssl.berkeley.edu
Mission duration	Final: 5 years, 3 months
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	SpaceDev Inc
Launch mass	~ 64 kg (141 lb)
Dry mass	~ 40 kg (88 lb)
Dimensions	5 m × 2.8 m × 3.2 m (16.4 ft × 9.2 ft × 10.5 ft)
Start of mission
Launch date	13 January 2003, 01:45 UTC (2003-01-13UTC01:45Z)
Rocket	Delta II
Launch site	Vandenberg SLC 2W
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Semi-major axis	6,919 kilometres (4,299 mi)
Perigee altitude	528 kilometres (328 mi)
Apogee altitude	554 kilometres (344 mi)
Inclination	94.05 degrees
Period	95.5 minutes
Epoch	17 Feb 2020 21:02:45 UTC
Instruments CHIPS A nebular spectrograph (9 to 26 nm)[1]
Explorers Program

CHIPSat (Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer satellite, also just CHIPS) is a now-decommissioned, but still-orbiting, microsatellite. It was launched on January 12, 2003 from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Delta II with the larger ICESat, and had an intended mission duration of one year. CHIPSat was the first of NASA's University-Class Explorers (UNEX) mission class and it was also known as Explorer 82. It performed spectroscopy from 90 to 250 angstroms (9 to 26 nm), extreme ultraviolet light.

The primary objective of the science team, led by Principal Investigator Mark Hurwitz, was to study the million-degree gas in the local interstellar medium. CHIPSat was designed to capture the first spectra of the faint, extreme ultraviolet glow that is expected to be emitted by the hot interstellar gas within about 300 light-years of the Sun, a region often referred to as the Local Bubble. Surprisingly, these measurements produced a null result, with only very faint EUV emissions detected, despite theoretical expectations of much stronger emissions.

It was the first U.S. mission to use TCP/IP for end-to-end satellite operations control.

The University of California, Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory served as CHIPSat's primary groundstation and manufactured the CHIPS spectrograph, designed to perform all-sky spectroscopy. Other ground network support was provided by groundstations at Wallops Island, Virginia and Adelaide, Australia. CHIPSat's spacecraft platform was manufactured by SpaceDev.

In September 2005 the spacecraft was converted to a solar observatory. From April 3, 2006 to April 5, 2008 CHIPsat performed 1458 observations of the Sun.

Satellite operations were terminated in April 2008.

See also

• Extreme ultraviolet

External links

• "Good-bye Mr. CHIPS", Chris Thompson, East Bay Express, 2 July 2008.
• "CHIPS, the Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer". University of California, Space Sciences Laboratory. http://chips.ssl.berkeley.edu/. 
• "Two Years of EUV Observations with the Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer". University of California, Space Sciences Laboratory. http://chips.ssl.berkeley.edu/AAS200512abstract.txt. 
• "SpaceDev Small Satellites". SpaceDev. http://www.spacedev.com/spacedev_micro_nano_sats.php.