thus avoided scintillation, enabling high-precision photometry. As a secondary experiment, one solar array also included a section with reflectors, to test a concentrator system. The WIRE asteroseismology mission was deactivated on 30 September 2000, reactivated through Bowie State University's Satellite Operations and Control Center from 2003 through 2006, then communications were finally lost 23 October 2006. WIRE re-entered Earth's atmosphere on 10 May 2011. The original science goals of WIRE may finally be achieved by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) (Explorer 92) mission which was successfully launched into orbit on 14 December 2009, and began observations on 14 January 2010. See also Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Infrared space telescope References External links Wide Field Infrared Explorer by the California Institute of Technology Spacecraft launched in 1999 Spacecraft which reentered in 2011 Explorers Program Infrared technology Space accidents and incidents in the United States Spacecraft launched by Pegasus rockets