Small Explorer program
SAMPEX
RHESSI
IBEX
The Small Explorer program (SMEX) is an effort within NASA to fund space exploration missions that cost no more than US$120 million.[1] Extending the larger Explorers program, it was started in 1989.[2]
Program history
The first set of three SMEX missions were launched between 1992 and 1998. The second set of two missions were launched in 1998 and 1999. These missions were managed by the Small Explorer Project Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). In early 1999, that office was closed and with the announcement of opportunity for the third set of SMEX missions NASA converted the program so that each mission was managed by its Principal Investigator, with oversight by the GSFC Explorers Project.[3]
List of missions
| Name | SMEX number |
Explorer number |
Launch (UTC) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAMPEX | SMEX-1 | Explorer-68 | 3 July 1992 | Ended: 30 June 2004 Reentered: 13 November 2012 |
| FAST | SMEX-2 | Explorer-70 | 21 August 1996 | Ended: 4 May 2009 |
| SWAS | SMEX-3 | Explorer-74 | 6 December 1998 | Ended: 21 July 2004 |
| TRACE | SMEX-4 | Explorer-73 | 2 April 1998 | Ended: 21 June 2010 |
| WIRE | SMEX-5 | Explorer-75 | 5 March 1999 | Spacecraft equipment failure Reentered: 10 May 2011 |
| RHESSI | SMEX-6 | Explorer-81 | 5 February 2002 | Operational |
| GALEX | SMEX-7 | Explorer-83 | 28 April 2003 | Ended: May 2012 Decommissioned: 28 June 2013 |
| SPIDR | SMEX-8 | Cancelled, instrument not sensitive as expected | ||
| AIM | SMEX-9 | Explorer-90 | 25 April 2007 | Operational |
| IBEX | SMEX-10 | Explorer-91 | 19 October 2008 | Operational |
| NuSTAR | SMEX-11 | Explorer-93 | 13 June 2012 | Operational |
| IRIS | SMEX-12 | Explorer-94 | 28 June 2013 | Operational |
| GEMS | SMEX-13 | Cancelled, expected cost overrun |
See also
- Cosmic Vision S-class missions, the European Space Agency equivalent to the Small Explorer program
References
- ↑ "Explorers Missions". NASA. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
- ↑ Mason, G. M.; Baker, D. N.; Blake, J. B.; Boughner, R. E.; Callis, L. B.; et al. (1998). SAMPEX: NASA's First Small Explorer Satellite. IEEE Aerospace Conference. 21–28 March 1998. Aspen, Colorado. pp. 389–412. doi:10.1109/AERO.1998.685848.
- ↑ "Welcome to the Small Explorer's Web Site". NASA. 18 February 2000. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Small Explorer program. |
- Small Explorers Missions by Goddard Space Flight Center
- Explorer Program Satellites by the National Space Science Data Center
- SMEX-series satellites by Colorado State University
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