NASA’s aircraft-telescope has landed for maintenance. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, also known as SOFIA, can basically be described as a modified Boeing 747SP with a telescope on it. It was visiting New Zealand to collect data on the Southern Hemisphere skies when a “severe weather event” damaged the aircraft.
NASA said in a statement this week that “high winds caused the stairs outside the aircraft to slip, causing minor damage to the front of the aircraft and to the stairs themselves.” No injuries occurred. The plane will require new ladders. Repairs will take at least three weeks, which will halt science observation flights over New Zealand for a while, the SOFIA team said.
Arriving in New Zealand in June, SOFIA observed and studied “a wide variety of celestial bodies and phenomena, such as cosmic magnetic fields, the structure of the Milky Way, and the origin of cosmic rays.”
This unique telescope system gained notoriety when NASA found conclusive evidence of water on the Moon. The aircraft is flying at the altitude necessary to rise above water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere, which can cloud telescope observations.
SOFIA will return home to California after it has been repaired. Unfortunately, we can say that the loss of working time is unfortunate, as the Observatory is nearing the end of its mission. In April, NASA announced that SOFIA would end operations no later than September 30, citing comparisons of operating costs and productivity as one of the factors.
Before being used by NASA, the SOFIA aircraft was a passenger jet. It completed its maiden flight after undergoing science modifications in 2007, but was not fully operational until 2014. The observatory is jointly operated by NASA and the German Aerospace Center.
SOFIA is expected to do some more science flights after it’s been repaired, but it won’t be able to avoid retiring afterwards.
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