First Orbital Cosmic Microwave Observatory

NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) mission marked a pivotal advancement in the study of cosmic microwave background radiation. As the first orbital cosmic microwave observatory, COBE was designed to measure the diffuse infrared and microwave radiation from the early universe. The mission's primary objectives included mapping the cosmic microwave background radiation, which is a remnant from the Big Bang, and studying the anisotropies in this radiation that provide insights into the universe's structure and evolution. COBE's findings contributed significantly to the understanding of the universe's age, composition, and the formation of large-scale structures. The data collected by COBE confirmed the predictions of the Big Bang theory and provided evidence for the existence of dark matter and dark energy, which are crucial components of the current cosmological model. The mission's success laid the groundwork for future missions, such as the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and the Planck satellite, which further refined our understanding of the universe's early conditions and its subsequent expansion.