the measurements from the radiometer showed that one side of the sky was different to the other but this was surprising because it was expected that many differences would be found all over the sky. smoot was working on finding these smaller differences in the late 1970s when he gave nasa an idea to make a satellite with a detector that was similar to the one mounted on the lockheed aeroplane. this detector would be much more powerful and it would not be affected by the atmosphere. nasa spent us$160  million on the satellite and named it the cobe. the cobe satellite was delayed after the space shuttle challenger was destroyed, but was launched successfully on november 18, 1989. after more than two years, on 21 april 1992, the cobe research team claimed that the satellite had detected the small differences they were looking for. this was very important in the study of the early universe. the study was "evidence for the birth of the universe". professor smoot said: "if you're religious, it's like looking at god."