dietz%usc-cse%USC-ECL@sri-unix.UUCP (07/12/83)
IRAS is returning 700 million bits of data per day. So far, it has mapped 1/2 of the sky; after finishing the survey it will repeat to detect moving and variable sources, and to find spurious signals (debris, reflected moon light, cosmic ray impacts on the detector). The big bottleneck right now is the data reduction software, which is still being debugged. IRAS is expected to be a superb asteroid detector. It is expected to find some 15,000 to 20,000 new asteroids (3,000 are known from ground observation). I don't believe their orbits will be known, though.