National Aeronautics and Space Administration

HaloSat

HaloSat is a CubeSat for studying the distribution of hot gas in the Milky Way and understanding the distribution of mass in the Galactic halo. It was launched on May 21, 2018 from Wallops Space Flight Facility as part of a Cygnus ISS resupply mission. It was subsequently deployed from the ISS on July 13, 2018 from the Japanese Experimental Module. Operations began in October 2018 and the satellite re-enetered the Earth’s atmosphere on January 4, 2021.

Mission Characteristics

Lifetime

Energy Range

Special Features

Payload

• Energy Range : 0.4-7.0 keV
• Field of View : 10° diameter full response
• Energy resolustion : ~85 eV at 677 eV and ~137 eV at 5895 eV
• Effective area : 25 mm² each units

Science Highlights

• Map the distribution of hot baryonic matter in the extended halo around the Milky Way galaxy

Archive