'Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series'
Abstract
The Spitzer Space Telescope completed nearly six years of cryogenic
operations in 2009 and in August 2011 began the third year of ‘warm’ science observations.
Over 50,000 hours of science have been executed in the first 8 years of the
mission. Nearly 40% of the cryogenic mission project budget was devoted to data analysis
funding provided directly to the astronomical community. For the warm mission,
the observatory was effectively reinvented as a new, scientifically productive mission
operating at a substantially lower cost. In this paper we discuss how the design of the
science operations, observing modes and observing program for the cryogenic mission
led to very high observing efficiencies and maximized the observatory time devoted
to science. The philosophy of maximizing science output per dollar has continued in
the warm mission. The transition to warm operations has maintained an outstanding
science program while reducing the project budget by nearly 70% from the cryogenic
mission level