Science
Space Telescopes
Space telescopes launched for astronomical observation.
telescopesspaceastronomyobservation
44 of 44 rows
Photo↕ | Name↕ | Space agency↕ | Launch date↕ | Terminated↕ | Location↕ | Ref(s)↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uhuru (Small Astronomy Satellite 1, SAS-A) | NASA | 12 Dec 1970 | Mar 1973 | Earth orbit (531–572 km) | ||
| Astronomical Netherlands Satellite (ANS) | SRON | 30 Aug 1974 | Jun 1976 | Earth orbit (266–1176 km) | ||
| Ariel V | SRC & NASA | 15 Oct 1974 | 14 Mar 1980 | Earth orbit (520 km) | ||
| Aryabhata | ISRO | 19 Apr 1975 | 23 Apr 1975 | Earth orbit (563–619 km) | ||
| Small Astronomy Satellite 3 (SAS-C) | NASA | 7 May 1975 | Apr 1979 | Earth orbit (509–516 km) | ||
| Cos-B | ESA | 9 Aug 1975 | 25 Apr 1982 | Earth orbit (339.6–99,876 km) | ||
| Cosmic Radiation Satellite (CORSA) | ISAS | 4 Feb 1976 | 4 Feb 1976 | Failed launch | ||
| High Energy Astronomy Observatory 1 (HEAO 1) | NASA | 12 Aug 1977 | 9 Jan 1979 | Earth orbit (445 km) | ||
| Einstein Observatory (HEAO 2) | NASA | 13 Nov 1978 | 26 Apr 1981 | Earth orbit (465–476 km) | ||
| Hakucho (CORSA-b) | ISAS | 21 Feb 1979 | 16 Apr 1985 | Earth orbit (421–433 km) | ||
| High Energy Astronomy Observatory 3 (HEAO 3) | NASA | 20 Sep 1979 | 29 May 1981 | Earth orbit (486.4–504.9 km) | ||
| Tenma (Astro-B) | ISAS | 20 Feb 1983 | 19 Jan 1989 | Earth orbit (489–503 km) | ||
| Astron | IKI | 23 Mar 1983 | Jun 1989 | Earth orbit (2,000–200,000 km) | ||
| EXOSAT | ESA | 26 May 1983 | 8 Apr 1986 | Earth orbit (347–191,709 km) | ||
| Ginga (Astro-C) | ISAS | 5 Feb 1987 | 1 Nov 1991 | Earth orbit (517–708 km) | ||
| Granat | CNRS & IKI | 1 Dec 1989 | 25 May 1999 | Earth orbit (2,000–200,000 km) | ||
| ROSAT | NASA & DLR | 1 Jun 1990 | 12 Feb 1999 | Re-entry 23 October 2011. Formerly Earth orbit (580 km) | ||
| Broad Band X-ray Telescope / Astro 1 | NASA | 2 Dec 1990 | 11 Dec 1990 | Earth orbit (500 km) | ||
| Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics (ASCA, Astro-D) | ISAS & NASA | 20 Feb 1993 | 2 Mar 2001 | Earth orbit (523.6–615.3 km) | ||
| Array of Low Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors (Alexis) | LANL | 25 Apr 1993 | 2005 | Earth orbit (749–844 km) | ||
| Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) | NASA | 30 Dec 1995 | 3 Jan 2012 | Earth orbit (409 km) | ||
| BeppoSAX | ASI | 30 Apr 1996 | 30 Apr 2002 | Earth orbit (575–594 km) | ||
| A Broadband Imaging X-ray All-sky Survey (ABRIXAS) | DLR | 28 Apr 1999 | 1 Jul 1999 | Earth orbit (549–598 km) | ||
| Chandra X-ray Observatory | NASA | 23 Jul 1999 | — | Earth orbit (9,942–140,000 km) | ||
| XMM-Newton | ESA | 10 Dec 1999 | — | Earth orbit (7,365–114,000 km) | ||
| High Energy Transient Explorer 2 (HETE 2) | NASA | 9 Oct 2000 | Mar 2008 | Earth orbit (590–650 km) | ||
| International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) | ESA | 17 Oct 2002 | 28 Feb 2025 | Earth orbit (639–153,000 km) | ||
| Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory | NASA | 20 Nov 2004 | — | Earth orbit (585–604 km) | ||
| Suzaku (Astro-E2) | JAXA & NASA | 10 Jul 2005 | 2 Sep 2015 | Earth orbit (550 km) | ||
| Astrorivelatore Gamma ad Immagini Leggero (AGILE) | ISA | 23 Apr 2007 | 18 Jan 2024 | Earth orbit (524–553 km) | ||
| Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) | NASA | 13 Jun 2012 | — | Earth orbit (603.5 km) | ||
| AstroSat | ISRO | 28 Sep 2015 | — | Earth orbit (600–650 km) | ||
| Hitomi (Astro-H) | JAXA | 17 Feb 2016 | 28 Apr 2016 | Earth orbit (575 km) | ||
| Mikhailo Lomonosov | Moscow State University | 28 Apr 2016 | 30 Jun 2018 | Earth orbit (478–493 km) | ||
| Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) | NASA | 7 Jun 2017 | — | International Space Station | ||
| Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT) | CNSA & CAS | 14 Jun 2017 | — | Low Earth orbit (545–554.1 km) | ||
| Spektr-RG | RSRI & MPE | Jul 13, 2019 | — | Sun-Earth L2 | ||
| Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) | NASA | 9 Dec 2021 | — | Earth orbit (540 km) | ||
| Lobster Eye Imager for Astronomy (LEIA) | CAS | 27 Jul 2022 | — | Low Earth orbit | ||
| X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) | JAXA & NASA | 7 Sep 2023 | — | Earth orbit (550 km) | ||
| X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) | ISRO & RRI | 1 Jan 2024 | — | Earth orbit (638–653 km) | ||
| Einstein Probe | CAS & ESA & MPE | 9 Jan 2024 | — | Earth orbit (581–593 km) | ||
| Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) | CNSA & CNES | 22 Jun 2024 | — | Earth orbit (625–625 km) | ||
| BlackCAT | NASA | 11 Jan 2026 | — | Geocentric orbit |
Loading community rankings...