Cos-B

Cos-B

Cos-B, a satellite to study cosmic gamma-rays
Mission type	Astronomy
Operator	ESA
COSPAR ID	1975-072A
SATCAT no.	08062
Mission duration	2.5 years (planned) 10 years, 5 months and 8 days (achieved)
Start of mission
Launch date	9 August 1975, 01:48:00 UTC
Rocket	Delta 2913
Launch site	Vandenberg Air Force Base, SLC-2W
End of mission
Decay date	18 January 1986
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit

COS-B was the first European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) mission to study cosmic gamma ray sources. COS-B was first put forward by the European scientific community in the mid-1960s and approved by the ESRO council in 1969. The mission consisted of a satellite containing gamma-ray detectors, which was launched by NASA on behalf of the ESRO on 9 August 1975. The mission was completed on 25 April 1982, after the satellite had been operational for more than 6.5 years, four years longer than planned and had increased the amount of data on gamma rays by a factor of 25. Scientific results included the 2CG Catalogue listing around 25 gamma ray sources and a map of the Milky Way. The satellite also observed the X-ray binary Cygnus X-3.

Launch

COS-B was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 9 August 1975 on a Delta 2913 rocket.

External links

• Cos-B overview at esa.int
• Cos-B overview at ESA science & technology pages
• Scientific results of Cos-B at ESA
• Cos-B overview at NASA

Operating

Radio and Microwave	NCLE (since 2018) Solar Orbiter (since 2020) STEREO (since 2006) Queqiao (since 2018) Wind (since 1994) Queqiao 2 (since 2024)
Infrared	James Webb (since 2022) Odin (since 2001) SOLAR (since 2008) WISE (since 2009)
Optical	Aoi (since 2018) Astrosat (since 2015) BRITE constellation (since 2013) CHASE (since 2021) CHEOPS (since 2019) DSCOVR (since 2015) Euclid (since 2023) Hayabusa2 (since 2021) Gaia (since 2013) HiRISE (since 2005) Hubble (since 1990) Hinode (Solar-B) (since 2006) NEOSSat (since 2013) Odin (since 2001) SDO (since 2010) SOHO (since 1995) SOLAR (since 2008) Swift (since 2004) TESS (since 2018)
Ultraviolet	Aditya-L1 (since 2023) ASO-S (since 2022) Astrosat (since 2015) Hibari (since 2021) Hinode (Solar-B) (since 2006) IRIS (since 2013) SDO (since 2010) SOHO (since 1995) SOLAR (since 2008) Solar Orbiter (since 2020) STEREO (since 2006) Swift (since 2004)
X-ray and Gamma-ray	AGILE (since 2007) CALET (since 2015) Chandra (AXAF) (since 1999) DAMPE (since 2015) Einstein Probe (since 2024) HXMT (Insight) (since 2017) INTEGRAL (since 2002) Fermi (since 2008) GECAM (since 2020) IXPE (since 2021) Spektr-RG (since 2019) Swift (since 2004) Max Valier Sat (since 2017) MAXI (since 2009) MinXSS-2 (since 2018) NICER (since 2017) NuSTAR (since 2012) LEIA (since 2022) XRISM (since 2023) XPoSat (since 2024) XMM-Newton (since 1999)
Other (particle or unclassified)	ACE (since 1997) AMS-02 (since 2011) CALET (since 2015) DAMPE (since 2015) IBEX (since 2008) ISS-CREAM (since 2017) Mini-EUSO (since 2019) SOHO (since 1995) Solar Orbiter (since 2020) STEREO (since 2006)

PlannedProposedRetiredHibernating
(Mission completed)Lost/FailedCancelledRelated