NASA’s Unique SOFIA Boeing 747SP Flying Telescope Is Done
NASA announced Thursday that a rare modified Boeing 747SP—known as the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), will be shut down this year, after years of inflight observations of the moon, stars, planets, and far away galaxies.
NASA’s Boeing 747SP flying telescope platform is called SOFIA, which stands for Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. [Courtesy: NASA]
Key Takeaways:
NASA is retiring its Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a modified Boeing 747SP airborne telescope, this year.
The shutdown is due to its high operating costs (over $1 billion in development, $83 million annually) not being justified by its scientific productivity, according to a peer-reviewed report.
SOFIA operated by flying a 106-inch telescope at 45,000 feet, enabling clearer infrared observations by rising above 99 percent of Earth's atmospheric water vapor.
Despite its termination, SOFIA made significant discoveries, including finding water on the sunlit surface of the moon and identifying the first type of molecule to form in the universe, with its data to be archived for future research.
NASA’s one-of-a-kind, modified Boeing 747SP airborne telescope platform is out of a job.
The space agency announced Thursday that the jet—known as the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)—will be shut down this year, after performing hundreds of missions to observe the moon, stars, planets, and faraway galaxies.
CREATE A FREE ACCOUNT
Sign up to keep reading
Create a free account to continue. Already a member? Sign in below.
Thom is a former senior editor for FLYING. Previously, his freelance reporting appeared in aviation industry magazines. Thom also spent three decades as a TV and digital journalist at CNN’s bureaus in Washington and Atlanta, eventually specializing in aviation. He has reported from air shows in Oshkosh, Farnborough and Paris. Follow Thom on Twitter @thompatterson.
