Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer

Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer

Illustration of FAST
Names	Explorer-70, SMEX-2
Mission type	Auroral plasma physics
Operator	NASA / Goddard Space Sciences Laboratory
COSPAR ID	1996-049A
SATCAT №	24285
Website	http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/fast/
Mission duration	Planned: 1 year[1] Final: 12 years, 8 months and 13 days[2]
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	NASA / Goddard
Launch mass	191.3 kg (421.7 lb)[3]
Payload mass	65.3 kg (144.0 lb)[3]
Dimensions	1.02 × 0.93 m (3.3 × 3.1 ft)[1]
Power	52 W[4][4]
Start of mission
Launch date	August 21, 1996, 09:47 UTC
Rocket	Pegasus XL
Launch site	Stargazer Vandenberg AFB, California, U.S.
Contractor	Orbital Sciences
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Semi-major axis	8,300.4 km (5,157.6 mi)
Eccentricity	0.1898
Perigee	346.8 km (215.5 mi)
Apogee	3,497.8 km (2,173.4 mi)
Inclination	82.9680°
Period	125.4333 min
RAAN	340.7268°
Argument of perigee	109.0590°
Mean anomaly	272.4924°
Mean motion	11.4802 rev/day
Epoch	September 5, 2015, 03:48:35 UTC[5]
Revolution number	77604
Instruments ESA Electrostatic Analyzers TEAMS Time-of-Flight Energy Angle Mass Spectrograph   Electric Field and Langmuir Probe Experiment   Tri-Axial Fluxgate and Search-coil Magnetometers
Small Explorer program ← SAMPEX SWAS →

The Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer (FAST) is a NASA plasma physics satellite, and is the second spacecraft in the Small Explorer program. It was launched on August 21, 1996, from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Pegasus XL rocket. The spacecraft was designed and built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Flight operations were handled by Goddard for the first three years, and thereafter were transferred to the University of California, Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory.^[3]

FAST was designed to observe and measure the plasma physics of the auroral phenomena which occur around both of Earth's poles.^[2] While its Electric Field Experiment failed around 2002, all other instruments continued to operate normally until science operations were ended on May 1, 2009.^[6] Various engineering tests were conducted afterward.^[6]

Instruments

• Electrostatic Analyzers (ESA): measured electron and ion distribution^[2]
• Time-of-flight Energy Angle Mass Spectrograph (TEAMS): measured three-dimensional distribution of major ion species^[2]
• Tri-Axial Fluxgate and Search-coil Magnetometers: measured magnetic field data^[2]
• Electric Field and Langmuir Probe Experiment: measured electric field data, plasma density and temperature^[2]

See also

• Auroral kilometric radiation
• Interbol

References

1. "FAST Facts". University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
2. "FAST". National Space Science Data Center. NASA. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
3. Pfaff, R.; et al. (August 2001). "An Overview of the Fast Auroral SnapshoT (FAST) Satellite" (PDF). Space Science Reviews 98 (1/2): 1–32. Bibcode:2001SSRv...98....1P. doi:10.1023/A:1013187826070.
4. "Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer". Goddard Space Flight Center. Archived from the original on June 8, 2012.
5. "FAST - Orbit". Heavens Above. September 5, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
6. "News & Events". FAST Education and Public Outreach. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved September 5, 2015.

External links

• Media related to FAST at Wikimedia Commons
• FAST website by the University of California Berkeley
• FAST Education & Public Outreach website
• FAST website by NASA's Science Mission Directorate
• FAST website (archived) by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center