Development
The MAP mission was proposed to NASA in 1995, selected for definition study in 1996, and approved for development in 1997.
The WMAP was preceded by two missions to observe the CMB; (i) the Soviet RELIKT-1 that reported the upper-limit measurements of CMB anisotropies, and (ii) the U.S. COBE satellite that reported large-scale CMB fluctuations, and the ground-based and balloon experiments measuring the small-scale fluctuations in patches of sky: the Boomerang, the Cosmic Background Imager, and the Very Small Array. The WMAP is 45 times more sensitive, with 33 times the angular resolution of its COBE satellite predecessor.
Read more about this topic: Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“As a final instance of the force of limitations in the development of concentration, I must mention that beautiful creature, Helen Keller, whom I have known for these many years. I am filled with wonder of her knowledge, acquired because shut out from all distraction. If I could have been deaf, dumb, and blind I also might have arrived at something.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“To be sure, we have inherited abilities, but our development we owe to thousands of influences coming from the world around us from which we appropriate what we can and what is suitable to us.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“Men are only as good as their technical development allows them to be.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)