The Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) provides science operations, data management, data archives and community support for astronomy and planetary science missions. IPAC has a historical emphasis on infrared-submillimeter astronomy and exoplanet science. IPAC has supported NASA, NSF and privately funded projects and missions. It is located on the campus of the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

. IPAC was established in 1986 to provide support for the joint European-American orbiting infrared telescope, the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, or IRAS. The IRAS mission performed an unbiased, sensitive all-sky survey at 12, 25, 60 and 100 µm during 1983. After the mission ended, IPAC started the

Infrared Science Archive The Infrared Science Archive (IRSA) is the primary archive for the infrared and submillimeter astronomical projects of NASA, the space agency of the United States. IRSA curates the science products of over 15 missions, including the Spitzer Sp ...

(IRSA) to make the data available to anyone who needed it. Later, NASA designated IPAC as the U.S. science support center for the European Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), which ceased operations in 1998. About that same time, IPAC was designated as the science center for the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) -- renamed the

Spitzer Space Telescope The Spitzer Space Telescope, formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), was an infrared space telescope launched in 2003. Operations ended on 30 January 2020. Spitzer was the third space telescope dedicated to infrared astronomy, ...

after launch. IPAC also assumed the lead role in various other infrared space missions, including the Wide-field Infrared Explorer (WIRE) and the

Midcourse Space Experiment The Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) is a Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) satellite experiment (unmanned space mission) to map bright infrared sources in space. MSX offered the first system demonstration of technology in space t ...

(MSX). IPAC also expanded its support to include ground-based missions with the assumption of science support responsibilities for the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (

2MASS The Two Micron All-Sky Survey, or 2MASS, was an astronomical survey of the whole sky in infrared light. It took place between 1997 and 2001, in two different locations: at the U.S. Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mount Hopkins, Arizona, and ...

), a near-infrared survey of the entire sky conducted by twin observatories in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. In 1999, IPAC formed an interferometry science center, originally called the Michelson Science Center (MSC) after interferometry pioneer Albert A. Michelson. MSC was renamed the

NASA Exoplanet Science Institute The NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI) is part of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) and is on the campus of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, CA. NExScI was formerly known as the Michelson Sci ...

(NExScI) in 2008. Today, the greater IPAC includes the Spitzer Science Center, the

and the NASA Herschel Science Center. In 2014, NASA established th
Euclid NASA Science Center at IPAC
(ENSCI) in order to support US-based investigations using Euclid data. The combined efforts of these centers support more than a dozen science missions and archives. IPAC is also a participating organization in the Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO).

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