Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer

This is the reconstructed full-scale model of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). The object contains flight and flight-like parts, reconstructed and reassembled for display. Three of the four reflector elements in this array are flight backups and one is a mock-up. The framework is the original structural thermal engineering model of the receiver box for WMAP. It contains the waveguides and detectors for the WMAP satellite that were fed by the two oppositely directed telescopes. The black anodized skeletal support is non-flight. Some walls and covers have been removed and replaced by clear plastic for display. Prominent above the receiver box are the two oppositely directed microwave collector dishes. These 1.4 by 1.6 meter diameter dishes were large enough to achieve the angular resolution needed to discriminate between various cosmological models. They reflect energy into ice-cream-cone shaped feeds that direct the radiation into 10 passively cooled microwave radiometers operating between 20 and 100 GHz. The display does not include a disk-shaped thermal reflector system seen in images of the deployed flight object. It does include the receiver wave guide system A20060634003.

Display Status

This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.

Object Details
Country of Origin United States of America Type MODELS-Uncrewed Spacecraft & Parts Manufacturer NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center
Dimensions 3-D (L x W x H) (Over Dims): 295.9 × 138.4 × 270.5cm, 244.9kg (9 ft. 8 1/2 in. × 4 ft. 6 1/2 in. × 8 ft. 10 1/2 in., 540lb.)
Materials Aluminum and mixed metal framing, thermal insulation, electronic detectors, mixed microwave electronics.
Alternate Name WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe) Inventory Number A20060634000 Credit Line Transferred from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use.
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