In 1992, however, the situation changed dramatically with the launch of the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite. This mission was designed to study the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, which is the leftover radiation from the Big Bang. The COBE mission made the first precise measurements of the CMB, and these measurements provided evidence in support of the Big Bang theory. The COBE mission also discovered small fluctuations in the CMB radiation, which were believed to be the seeds of galaxy formation. This discovery was a major breakthrough in our understanding of the early universe, as it provided evidence for the inflationary universe model. This model suggests that the universe underwent a rapid expansion in the first few moments after the Big Bang, which would have caused the tiny fluctuations in the CMB.