Cool Stars 14

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The two co-hosts of Cool Stars 14 are the Spitzer Science Center and the Michelson Science Center. Both the SSC and MSC are located on the campus of the California Institute of Technology, along with NASA's Infrared Processing and Analysis Center.

The SSC is the science center for the Spizter Space Telescope, the fourth and final element in NASA's family of Great Observatories, and represents an important scientific and technical bridge to NASA's Astronomical Search for Origins program. The Observatory carries an 85-centimeter cryogenic telescope and three cryogenically cooled science instruments capable of performing imaging and spectroscopy in the 3.6 to 160 micron range. Spitzer was launched on a Delta 7920H from Cape Canaveral into an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit in August 2003. While the Spitzer cryogenic lifetime requirement is 2.5 years, current estimates indicate that achieving a goal of a 5-year cryogenic mission is possible.

The MSC is a science operations and analysis service organization for selected NASA Origins Theme projects and the scientists and engineers that use them. The MSC facilitates the timely and successful execution of Origins theme science by providing software infrastructure, science operations, and consulting to Navigator Program projects and their user communities.