Cos-B
European space mission
COS-B (Celestial Observation Satellite B) was the first European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) mission to study cosmic gamma ray sources. COS-B was first put forward by the European scientific community in the mid-1960s and approved by the ESRO council in 1969. The mission consisted of a satellite containing gamma-ray detectors, which was launched by NASA on behalf of the ESRO on 9 August 1975. The mission was completed on 25 April 1982, after the satellite had been operational for more than 6.5 years, four years longer than planned and had increased the amount of data on gamma rays by a factor of 25. Scientific results included the 2CG Catalogue listing around 25 gamma ray sources and a map of the Milky Way. The satellite also observed the X-ray binary Cygnus X-3.
01Launch
COS-B was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 9 August 1975 on a Delta 2913 rocket.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Cos-B”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Cos-B.jpg by NASA Original uploader was SITCK at lb.wikipedia, Public domain
- Delta 2913 launch COS-B.jpg by Unknown author, Public domain
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