Astrophysics

Chandra

Active

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Image: NASA/CXC/NGST · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Launched: 23 Jul 199904:31:00 UTC
Active for: 27 years 3 months
Destinations: High Earth orbit

The third of NASA's Great Observatories, an X-ray telescope with the sharpest vision of any yet flown. It studies black holes, supernova remnants and the hot gas in galaxy clusters.

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Spacecraft

Chandra X-ray Observatory

Telescope

Active

Observatory with four pairs of nested mirrors, the smoothest ever made, in an orbit that reaches a third of the way to the Moon.

Launch mass: 5,677 kg
Dry mass: 4,653 kg
Size: 14 m × 4.3 m, span 19.5 m
Power: Solar
Built by: TRW
Designator: 1999-040B

Mission details from science.nasa.gov.