On this day, 42 years ago, on January 25, 1983 (December 12, 1982, the lunar calendar), an infrared astronomy satellite jointly developed by the United States, Britain and the Netherlands was launched into space. On January 25, 1983, the infrared astronomy satellite was launched into a sun-synchronous circular orbit at an altitude of 900 kilometers from Vandenberg Air Force Base by the American Delta 3910 rocket. The satellite was jointly designed and developed by scientists and engineers from the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The purpose of the flight is to observe sky infrared sources in four bands between 8 and 120 microns that cannot be seen by ground telescopes, and detect stars, ionized hydrogen regions and molecular clouds, as well as the far infrared of other galaxies, with a view to discovering new infrared objects and drawing The entire sky infrared celestial map. The satellite body is a cylindrical structure with a take-off weight of approximately 1050 kilograms. An 812-kilogram infrared telescope is mounted on top of the satellite, with a power of 500 watts and a design life of 200 to 300 days. The main observation instrument on board is the liquid helium cooled infrared telescope developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the United States, which can map infrared sources throughout space. New discoveries after the satellite ascended to heaven include: there are three rings of dust particles between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, fine clouds of dust floating in interplanetary space (scientists named it the "infrared valley"), five new comets, and the center of the Milky Way. It is gaseous and dusty. On November 10, 1983, the infrared astronomy satellite ended its work on the 21st due to the exhaustion of liquid refrigerant.