KSC-01pp1198
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- The fairing closes around the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) spacecraft at Launch Complex 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. MAP is scheduled for launch on June 30 aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket. The launch will place MAP into a lunar-assisted trajectory to the Sun-Earth for a 27-month mission. The probe will measure small fluctuations in the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation to an accuracy of one millionth of a degree. These measurements should reveal the size, matter content, age, geometry and fate of the universe. They will also reveal the primordial structure that grew to form galaxies and will test ideas about the origins of these primordial structures. The MAP instrument will be continuously shaded from the Sun, Earth, and Moon by the spacecraft
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Details
NASA ID
KSC-01pp1198
Date Created
June 26, 2001
Center
KSC
Media Type
image
Location
Kennedy Space Center, FL
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