Astronomische Nederlands Satelliet (ANS)

The Astronomical Netherlands Satellite (ANS; also known as Astronomische Nederlandse Satelliet) was a space-based X-ray and ultraviolet telescope. It was launched into Earth orbit on 30 August 1974 at 14:07:39 UTC in a Scout rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, United States. The mission ran for 20 months until June 1976, and was jointly funded by the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (NIVR) and NASA.[1][2] ANS was the first Dutch satellite, and the Main Belt asteroid 9996 ANS was named after it.[5] ANS reentered Earth's atmosphere on June 14, 1977.

The telescope had an initial orbit of with a periapsis of 266 kilometres (165 mi), an apoapsis of 1,176 kilometres (731 mi), with inclination 98.0° and eccentricity 0.064048, giving it a period of 99.2 minutes.[2] The orbit was sun-synchronous, and the attitude of the spacecraft could be controlled through reaction wheels. The momentum stored in the reaction wheels throughout the orbit was regularly dumped via magnetic coils that interacted with the Earth's magnetic field. The satellite also had two masses that were released shortly after orbit injection, to remove most of the satellite's angular momentum induced by the launcher. The attitude could be measured by a variety of techniques, including solar sensors, horizon sensors, star sensors and a magnetometer.[1]

ANS could measure X-ray photons in the energy range 2 to 30 keV, with a 60 cm2 detector, and was used to find the positions of galactic and extragalactic X-ray sources. It also measured their spectra, and looked at their variations over time.[1] It discovered X-ray bursts, and also detected X-rays from Capella.[5]

ANS also observed in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, with a 22 cm (260 cm2) Cassegrain telescope. The wavelengths of the observed photons were between 150 and 330 nm, with the detector split into five channels with central wavelengths of 155, 180, 220, 250 and 330 nm.[4] At these frequencies it took over 18,000 measurements of around 400 objects.[1]
See also

Spaceflight portal

Ultraviolet astronomy
X-ray astronomy
Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
List of X-ray space telescopes

References

"NASA — NSSDC — Spacecraft — Details (ANS)". NASA. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
"NASA — NSSD — Spacecraft — Trajectory Details (ANS)". NASA. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
Gursky, H.; et al. (1 November 1975). "The Hard X-ray experiment on the Astronomical Netherlands Satellite". Astrophysical Journal. 201: L127–L131. Bibcode:1975ApJ...201L.127G. doi:10.1086/181958.
van Duinen, R. J; et al. (February 1975). "The ultraviolet experiment onboard the astronomical Netherlands satellite — ANS". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 39: 159–163. Bibcode:1975A&A....39..159V.

"JPL Small-Body Database Browser". JPL, NASA. Retrieved 2008-03-03.

Further reading
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Astronomische Nederlandse Satelliet.

Bloemendal, W.; C. Kramer (1973). "The Netherlands astronomical satellite (ANS)". Philips Tech. Rev. 33: 117.

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Space observatories
Operating

ACE (since 1997) AGILE (since 2007) AMS-02 (since 2011) Aoi (since 2018) Astrosat (since 2015) BRITE constellation (since 2013) CALET (since 2015) Chandra (AXAF) (since 1999) CHEOPS (since 2019) DAMPE (since 2015) DSCOVR (since 2015) Fermi (since 2008) Gaia (since 2013) GECAM (since 2020) HXMT (Insight) (since 2017) Hinode (Solar-B) (since 2006) HiRISE (since 2005) Hisaki (SPRINT-A) (since 2013) Hubble (since 1990) INTEGRAL (since 2002) IBEX (since 2008) IRIS (since 2013) ISS-CREAM (since 2017) Max Valier Sat (since 2017) MAXI (since 2009) Mikhailo Lomonosov (since 2016) Mini-EUSO (since 2019) NCLE (since 2018) NEOSSat (since 2013) NICER (since 2017) NuSTAR (since 2012) Odin (since 2001) SDO (since 2010) SOHO (since 1995) SOLAR (since 2008) Solar Orbiter (since 2020) Spektr-RG (since 2019) STEREO (since 2006) Swift (since 2004) TESS (since 2018) Wind (since 1994) WISE (since 2009) XMM-Newton (since 1999)

Planned

iWF-MAXI (2021) Astro-1 Telescope (2021) Nano-JASMINE (2021) ORBIS (2021) ILO-X (2021) IXPE (2021) James Webb Space Telescope (2021) XPoSat (2021) Euclid (2022) Space Solar Telescope (2022) SVOM (2022) XRISM (2022) K-EUSO (2023) Solar-C (2023) LORD (2024) JASMINE (2024) SPHEREx (2024) Xuntian (2024) Near-Earth Object Surveillance Mission (2025+) Spektr-UV (2025) Roman Space Telescope (2025+) PLATO (2026) LiteBIRD (2027) ARIEL (2028) Spektr-M (2030+) ATHENA (2031) LISA (2034)

Proposed

Arcus AstroSat-2 EXCEDE Fresnel Imager FOCAL HabEx Hayabusa2 Hibari Hypertelescope ILO-1 JEM-EUSO LUCI LUVOIR Lynx Nautilus Deep Space Observatory New Worlds Mission NRO donation to NASA OST PhoENiX Solar-D SPICA THEIA THESEUS

Retired

Akari (Astro-F) (2006–2011) ALEXIS (1993–2005) Alouette 1 (1962–1972) Ariel 1 (1962, 1964) Ariel 2 (1964) Ariel 3 (1967–1969) Ariel 4 (1971–1972) Ariel 5 (1974–1980) Ariel 6 (1979–1982) ASTERIA (2017–2019) ATM (1973–1974) ASCA (Astro-D) (1993–2000) Astro-1 (1990)
BBXRT HUT Astro-2 (HUT) (1995) Astron (1983–1989) ANS (1974–1976) BeppoSAX (1996–2003) CHIPSat (2003–2008) Compton (CGRO) (1991–2000) CoRoT (2006–2013) Cos-B (1975–1982) COBE (1989–1993) DXS (1993) EPOCh (2008) EPOXI (2010) Explorer 11 (1961) EXOSAT (1983–1986) EUVE (1992–2001) FUSE (1999–2007) Kvant-1 (1987–2001) GALEX (2003–2013) Gamma (1990–1992) Ginga (Astro-C) (1987–1991) Granat (1989–1998) Hakucho (CORSA-b) (1979–1985) HALCA (MUSES-B) (1997–2005) HEAO-1 (1977–1979) Herschel (2009–2013) Hinotori (Astro-A) (1981–1991) HEAO-2 (Einstein Obs.) (1978–1982) HEAO-3 (1979–1981) HETE-2 (2000–2008) Hipparcos (1989–1993) IUE (1978–1996) IRAS (1983) IRTS (1995–1996) ISO (1996–1998) IXAE (1996–2004) Kepler (2009–2018) Kristall (1990–2001) LEGRI (1997–2002) LISA Pathfinder (2015–2017) MOST (2003–2019) MSX (1996–1997) OAO-2 (1968–1973) OAO-3 (Copernicus) (1972–1981) Orbiting Solar Observatory
OSO 1 OSO B OSO 3 OSO 4 OSO 5 OSO 6 OSO 7 OSO 8 Orion 1 (1971) Orion 2 (1973) PAMELA (2006–2016) PicSat (2018) Planck (2009–2013) RELIKT-1 (1983–1984) R/HESSI (2002–2018) ROSAT (1990–1999) RXTE (1995–2012) SAMPEX (1992–2004) SAS-B (1972–1973) SAS-C (1975–1979) Solwind (1979–1985) Spektr-R (2011–2019) Spitzer (2003–2020) Suzaku (Astro-EII) (2005–2015) Taiyo (SRATS) (1975–1980) Tenma (Astro-B) (1983–1985) Uhuru (1970–1973) Vanguard 3 (1959) WMAP (2001–2010) Yokoh (Solar-A) (1991–2001)

Hibernating
(Mission completed)

SWAS (1998–2005) TRACE (1998–2010)

Lost

OAO-1 (1966) OAO-B (1970) CORSA (1976) OSO C (1965) ABRIXAS (1999) HETE-1 (1996) WIRE (1999) Astro-E (2000) Tsubame (2014–2015) Hitomi (Astro-H) (2016)

Cancelled

AOSO Astro-G Constellation-X Darwin Destiny EChO Eddington FAME FINESSE GEMS HOP IXO JDEM LOFT OSO J OSO K Sentinel SIM & SIMlite SNAP SPOrt TAUVEX TPF XEUS XIPE