185
Spain’s participation in the two instruments was led by the IAC, under the
supervision of the now Professor Teodoro Roca. SOHO was launched from
Cape Canaveral on a Lockheed–Martin Atlas II rocket in December 1995. It
had a long and productive working life (it was planned for a three-year mission and lasted more than twenty years).
It is not by chance that the IAA should be the second Spanish research
centre to become decidedly involved, and with notable success, in space astrophysics (recall their first steps with the FOCCA photometers and ISOPHOT-S).
Given that they had a research team with knowledge and experience in highaltitude atmospheric studies, they began to join projects on planetary atmospheres and then went on to many other aspects of planetary astrophysics
from space. They are now an established authority in these fields.
Spain’s initiation into space astronomy, then, commenced first, as we have
seen, with scientific payloads being mounted on sounding rockets built by
INTA, and later with the building of instrument components for scientific
satellites. The IAC’s participation in the Herschel and Planck missions marked
a qualitative leap forward; for the first time Spain had developed software for
space missions. Right from the start research centres in Spain preferred collaboration between research teams and industry, an approach that has produced excellent results.
Now, in the twenty-first century, our country continues to participate in
such experiments, but this time also building and heading complete instruments, such as INTA’s meteorological station on NASA’s two Mars rovers.
The first Raman spectrometer to be used in space (RLS-ExoMars 18) will also
be built in Spain by the University of Valladolid and INTA. It is also the first
time that a principal investigator will be a Spaniard (from the University of
Alcalá de Henares).
Special mention must be made of Spain’s participation in the European
Space Agency’s Planck satellite, which was launched on 14 May 2009. There
was a significant participation in the mission by the Institute of Physics of
Cantabria, the University of Granada, and the IAC. That participation consisted essentially of two instruments, the Low Frequency Instrument and the
High Frequency Instrument, both fed by a pair of antennas that form what
may be called the telescope. The spacecraft also had a service module containing all the subsystems necessary to control the satellite and its communications with Earth, as well as the electronics and computers of the scientific
instruments. The satellite rotated to produce complete coverage of the sky
every six months, with a greater density of observations in the poles of the
ecliptic.
18 The Rise of Space Astrophysics in Spain (1942–Present)
Spain’s participation in the two instruments was led by the IAC, under the
supervision of the now Professor Teodoro Roca. SOHO was launched from
Cape Canaveral on a Lockheed–Martin Atlas II rocket in December 1995. It
had a long and productive working life (it was planned for a three-year mission and lasted more than twenty years).
It is not by chance that the IAA should be the second Spanish research
centre to become decidedly involved, and with notable success, in space astrophysics (recall their first steps with the FOCCA photometers and ISOPHOT-S).
Given that they had a research team with knowledge and experience in highaltitude atmospheric studies, they began to join projects on planetary atmospheres and then went on to many other aspects of planetary astrophysics
from space. They are now an established authority in these fields.
Spain’s initiation into space astronomy, then, commenced first, as we have
seen, with scientific payloads being mounted on sounding rockets built by
INTA, and later with the building of instrument components for scientific
satellites. The IAC’s participation in the Herschel and Planck missions marked
a qualitative leap forward; for the first time Spain had developed software for
space missions. Right from the start research centres in Spain preferred collaboration between research teams and industry, an approach that has produced excellent results.
Now, in the twenty-first century, our country continues to participate in
such experiments, but this time also building and heading complete instruments, such as INTA’s meteorological station on NASA’s two Mars rovers.
The first Raman spectrometer to be used in space (RLS-ExoMars 18) will also
be built in Spain by the University of Valladolid and INTA. It is also the first
time that a principal investigator will be a Spaniard (from the University of
Alcalá de Henares).
Special mention must be made of Spain’s participation in the European
Space Agency’s Planck satellite, which was launched on 14 May 2009. There
was a significant participation in the mission by the Institute of Physics of
Cantabria, the University of Granada, and the IAC. That participation consisted essentially of two instruments, the Low Frequency Instrument and the
High Frequency Instrument, both fed by a pair of antennas that form what
may be called the telescope. The spacecraft also had a service module containing all the subsystems necessary to control the satellite and its communications with Earth, as well as the electronics and computers of the scientific
instruments. The satellite rotated to produce complete coverage of the sky
every six months, with a greater density of observations in the poles of the
ecliptic.
18 The Rise of Space Astrophysics in Spain (1942–Present)