FAST

Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer, also called SMEX 2

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General

Designation	24285 / 96049A
Launch date	21 Aug 1996
Country of origin	United States
Mission	Scientific: magnetosphere study
Perigee/Apogee	350/4200 km
Inclination	83°
Period	133 min
Launch vehicle	Pegasus #13

The spacecraft will probe the physical processes that produce auroras and add signifcantly to the understanding of our near-Earth space environment.

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External resources

http://sunland.gsfc.nasa.gov/smex/fast/

http://plasma2.ssl.berkeley.edu/fast/
http://www510.gsfc.nasa.gov/smex/fastpg.htm
http://www-ssc.igpp.ucla.edu/fast/Welcome.html
sat-index articles

Technical data

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Specifications

Prime contractor
Platform
Mass at launch	191 kg
Payload mass	51 kg
Dimension	octogonal
Solar array
Stabilization	spin stabilized, 12 rpm
DC power	52 W
Design lifetime	1 year

Telemetry: 2215.0 MHz (realtime: 4 kbps, playback: 900/1500/2250 kbps)
Command: 2039.65 MHz (realtime: 2 kbps)

Instruments:
Electric Field Experiment: to provide data on plasma density and electron temperature
Magnetic Field Experiment: 2 magnetometers
Time-of-Flight Energy Angle Mass Spectrograph (TEAMS)
Electrostatic Analyzers (ESA): measurements from 3 eV to 30 KeV

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