Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

Fermi Mission History

The table below lists science milestones, data and software releases, and operations events for the Fermi mission. Dates for science highlights typically reflect the announcement or publication of the result.


Date AO Cycle Event
2008-06-11 0 Launch
2008-08-11 1 Checkout phase completed
2008-08-11 1 AO 1 started
2008-08-26 1 GLAST renamed to Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
2009-08-13 2 AO 2 started
2010-04-04 2 Fermi initiates first approved ToO
2010-08-11 3 AO 3 started
2011-08-11 4 AO 4 started
2011-10-28 4 Fermi sun-pointing event
2012-05-18 4 2-year mission extension approved by NASA (PDF)
2012-08-16 5 AO 5 started
2012-04-03 4 Fermi collision avoidance maneuver
2013-08-11 5 Fermi entered extended mission phase
2013-08-15 6 AO 6 started
2013-12-05 6 Modified observing strategy implemented
2014-05-16 6 2-year mission extension approved by NASA (PDF)
2014-08-14 7 AO 7 started
2014-12-04 7 Modified observing strategy ended
2015-08-13 8 AO 8 started
2016-06-09 8 2-year mission extension approved by NASA (PDF)
2016-08-11 9 AO 9 started
2017-08-17 10 AO 10 started
2018-03-16 10 Solar Array Drive Assembly (SADA) anomaly occurs
2018-04-03 10 Fermi resumes science operations
2018-08-16 11 AO 11 started
2019-07-17 11 3-year mission extension approved by NASA (PDF)
2019-08-02 11 Fermi anomaly interrupts operations
2019-08-05 11 Fermi returns to normal operations
2019-08-17 12 AO 12 started
2020-08-13 13 AO 13 started
2021-08-12 14 AO 14 started
2021-10-18 14 LAT SAA boundary decreased in size (phase one of two)
2022-02-03 14 LAT SAA boundary decreased in size (phase two of two)
2009-07-09 1 39 degree rocking angle profile started
2009-09-03 2 Rocking angle profile changed to 50 degrees
2016-01-01 8 GBM automated GRB localizations with RoboBA
2016-03-03 8 GBM BGO detector calibration
2018-01-12 10 GBM began delivering localization map in healpix format
2019-09-11 12 GBM updated localization systematic uncertainty in healpix maps
2010-07-20 2 GBM updated SAA boundaries
2017-07-17 9 GBM began distributing subthreshold transient GCN
2022-08-05 14 3-year mission extension approved by NASA (PDF)
2022-08-18 15 AO 15 started
2023-08-17 16 AO 16 started
2024-08-15 17 AO 17 started
2024-12-16 17 LAT offline due to misconfiguration
2024-12-19 17 LAT operations resume