Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer

This Structural Thermal engineering model of the receiver box for the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite contains flight and flight-like parts, reconstructed and reassembled for display.

In the early 1990s the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellitediscovered tiny temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation field left over from the infant universe. Scientists from Princeton University and elsewhere worked with NASA to develop a new satellite to observe these fluctuations with much greater sensitivity. WMAP launched on 30 June 2001. After a year of gathering data, it produced the first highly detailed full sky view of the thermal structure of the universe from some 13.7 billion years ago. The view provided a precise age of the Universe, an accurate census of the material in the universe, and information on the amount of a mysterious "dark energy" that dominates the present day universe.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center transferred this engineering model to the museum.

 Display Status

This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.
Object Details
Country of Origin United States of America Type SPACECRAFT-Uncrewed-Instruments & Payloads Manufacturer NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center
 Dimensions Overall (not including microwave telescope dish assemblies): 142.24 x 101.6cm, 132.5kg (4ft 8in. x 3ft 4in., 292lb.)
 Materials Aluminum and mixed metals framing, kapton, thermal insulation, mixed electronics
 Inventory Number A20060634003 Credit Line Transferred from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use.