Spaceflight Insider

News Archive / Tagged: IRIS

  • NASA extends science operations of IRIS solar observation spacecraft

    Tomasz NowakowskiSeptember 21st, 2016

    NASA has decided to extend science operations of its IRIS space observatory dedicated to studying the Sun's lower atmosphere. The $19.4 million extension contract awarded by the agency secures the manufacturer’s support for the mission through September 2018 and provides additional cooperation with ground observatories worldwide.

  • NASA’s IRIS spots its largest solar flare

    NASAMarch 8th, 2014

    On Jan. 28, 2014, NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, witnessed its strongest solar flare since it launched in the summer of 2013. Solar flares are bursts of x-rays and light that stream out into space, but scientists don’t yet know the fine details of what sets them off.