Text Size

A Robot or a Science Instrument?
10.21.09
 
Some say the science instrument on NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, mission resembles the Star Wars robot R2-D2. The instrument is enclosed in a solid-hydrogen cryostat, which cools the WISE telescope and detectors.

This image shows the bottle-like tank that houses the science instrument on NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, mission (some say it resembles the Star Wars robot R2-D2). This tank, called a cryostat, contains frozen hydrogen that chills the instrument.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Dynamics Lab

› Full resolution jpeg (714 Kb)
 
› Back To Top