| SAGE/AEM-2
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 | Launch Date: 02/18/1979
Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment Explorer Mission, to map vertical profiles of ozone, aerosol, nitrogen dioxide, and Rayleigh molecular around the globe.
Other Name(s): Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment, Applications Explorer Missions-B, AEM-B, Explorer 60
| Project Information | NSSDC Link | Additional URL 1 | |
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| SAMPEX
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 | Launch Date: 07/03/1992
SAMPEX is the first of SMEX'es (SMall EXplorers). SAMPEX was launched in July 1992 from Western Test Range (Lompoc,CA) at 1419 UT on July 3, 1992. The Payload combines some of the most sensitive particle sensors ever flown in space. SAMPEX Studies the energy,composition, and charge states of particles from supernova explosions in the distant reaches of the galaxy, from the heart of solar flares, and from the depths of nearby interstellar space. It also monitors closely the magnetospheric particle populations which plunge occasionally into the middle atmosphere of the Earth, thereby ionizing neutral gases and altering the atmospheric chemistry. A key part of SAMPEX is to use the magnetic field of the earth as an essential component of the measurement strategy. The Earth's field is used as a giant magnetic spectrometer to separate different energies and charge states of particles as SAMPEX executes its near polar orbit. Nearly five years after its launch into the current minimum of the solar cycle, SAMPEX has carried out a wide range of observations and discoveries concerning solar, heliospheric, and magnetospheric energetic particles seen from its unique vantage point in a nearly polar, low Earth orbit. Since almost all of the processes we are studying are driven or heavily influenced by the solar activity cycle, we have the opportunity to fully characterize the solar cycle dependence of a wide range of processes central to the goals of the NASA Office of Space Science's Sun-Earth Connections (SEC) theme.
Other Name(s): Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer, Explorer 68, SMEX/SAMPEX, Small Explorer/SAMPEX, SMEX 1
| GSFC Link | Project Information | NSSDC Link | Additional URL 1 | Additional URL 2 | |
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| San Marco C
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 | Launch Date: 04/24/1971
Study atmosphere drag, density, neutral composition, and temperature.
Other Name(s): San Marco 3
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| San Marco C-2
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| Launch Date: 02/18/1974
Measure variations of equatorial neutral atmosphere density, composition, and temperature.
Other Name(s): San Marco 4
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| San Marco D/L
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| Launch Date: 03/25/1988
The primary purpose of the San Marco-D/L Spacecraft was to explore the relationship between solar activity and thermosphere-ionosphere phenomena. It was launched on March 25, 1988. The spacecraft had a planned lifetime of one year. The science investigations used the following five flight sensors: a Drag Balance Instrument (DBI) for determining neutral density, a Wind and Temperature Spectrometer (WATI), an Ion Velocity Instrument (IVI), an Airglow-Solar Spectrometer (ASSI), and an Electric Field Meter (EFI).
Other Name(s):
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| San Marco I
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 | Launch Date: 12/15/1964
Spacecraft built and launched (on Scout from Wallops) by Ialian researchers. Studied the air and electron density in the upper atmosphere.
Other Name(s): San Marco 1, San Marco-A
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| San Marco II
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 | Launch Date: 04/20/1967
First satellite launch attempt from mobile sea-based platform in Indian Ocean; provided continuous equatorial air density measurements.
Other Name(s): San Marco 2, San Marco-B
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| SeaWiFS
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 | Launch Date: 08/01/1997
GSFC's Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor for ocean color measurement is the principle instrument on board Orbital Sciences Corporations' SeaStar spacecraft. The SeaWiFS instrument is the only scientific payload on the SeaStar spacecraft. OSC has the sole responsibility for the development, launch, and command and control of the satellite. The development of the SeaWiFS instrument was subcontracted to Hughes/SBRC, but OSC maintains ultimate responsibility for the instrument. The final orbit is reached approximately 20 days following launch. The launch is presently planned to occur from the U.S. West Coast during daylight hours, although launch from the East Coast is under consideration. At 25 days after launch, the SeaWiFS instrument is powered up and checked out. At launch plus 30 days, data collection operations commence.
Other Name(s): Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor, Seastar, Orbview
| GSFC Link | NSSDC Link | Additional URL 1 | Image Gallery | Educational Resource | |
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| SME
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 | Launch Date: 10/06/1981
The Solar Mesosphere Explorer was managed by GSFC. The mission of the SME was to investigate the destruction of ozone in the mesosphere and upper stratosphere. It was to determine the changes in ozone density resulting from solar flux as well as determining the relationships between solar flux, ozone, and temperature. And that of Ozone and water vapor, and ozone and carbon dioxide.
Other Name(s): Solar Mesosphere Explorer, Explorer 64
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| SMM A
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 | Launch Date: 02/14/1980
Solar Maximum Mission; performed a detailed study of solar flares, active regions, sunspots, and other solar activities. Also measured the total output of radiation from the Sun.
Other Name(s): Solar Maximum Mission, Solarmax
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| SMM Repair
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 | Launch Date: 04/06/1984
Repairs were done on the Solar Maximum Mission spacecraft on-orbit following deployment of the LDEF satellite.
Other Name(s): Solar Maximum Mission, Solarmax
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| SMS A
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 | Launch Date: 05/17/1974
Geostationary enviromental satellite to provide Earth imaging in visible and IR spectrum. First weather observer to operate in a fixed geosynchronous orbit about the Equator.
Other Name(s): Synchronous Meterological Satellite 1, SMS 1, ME01, Synch. Meteorol. Sat. A
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| SMS B
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| Launch Date: 02/06/1975
Together with SAM-A, provide cloud cover picture to NOAA every 30 min.
Other Name(s): Synchronous Meterological Satellite 2, SMS 2, ME02, Synch. Meteorol. Sat. B
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| SMS-C/GOES A
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| Launch Date: 10/16/1975
First operational satellite in NOAA's geosynchronous weather satellite system.
Other Name(s): Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 1, GOES 1
| Project Information | NSSDC Link | Additional URL 1 | |
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| SOHO
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 | Launch Date: 12/02/1995
The Solar and Heliospheric Observer is a ESA-NASA spacecraft to observe the sun and its corona over a full solar cycle. The SOHO (Solar & Heliospheric Observatory) project is being carried out by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a cooperative effort between the two agencies in the framework of the Solar Terrestrial Science Program (STSP) comprising SOHO and CLUSTER, and the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics Program (ISTP), with Geotail (ISAS-Japan), Wind, and Polar. SOHO was launched on December 2, 1995. The SOHO spacecraft was built in Europe by an industry team led by Matra, and instruments were provided by European and American scientists. There are nine European Principal Investigators (PI's) and three American ones. Large engineering teams and more than 200 co-investigators from many institutions supported the PI's in the development of the instruments and in the preparation of their operations and data analysis. NASA was responsible for the launch and is now responsible for mission operations. Large radio dishes around the world which form NASA's Deep Space Network are used to track the spacecraft beyond the Earth's orbit. Mission control is based at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
Other Name(s): Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
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| SORCE
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 | Launch Date: 01/25/2003
The Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) is a NASA-sponsored satellite mission that will provide state-of-the-art measurements of incoming x-ray, ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, and total solar radiation. The measurements provided by SORCE specifically address long-term climate change, natural variability and enhanced climate prediction, and atmospheric ozone and UV-B radiation. These measurements are critical to studies of the Sun; its effect on our Earth system; and its influence on humankind. GSFC provided overall NASA management and funding as part of the Earth Observation System (EOS) program.
Other Name(s): Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment
| GSFC Link | NSSDC Link | Additional URL 1 | Additional URL 2 | Image Gallery | Educational Resource | |
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| Spartan 201-2
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 | Launch Date: 09/09/1994
GSFC provided the the Lidar in Space Technology Experiment (LITE) to better explain our climate. Spartan was deployed during the STS 64 Shuttle mission for coordinated observations of the Sun with the Ulysses spacecraft. Mission duration: 262 hrs 49 mins 57 secs. Spartan Missions 201-1, 201-2, and 201-3 were flown during the declining phase of solar activity. Observations of H Lyman alpha profiles in coronal holes were found to be complex with broad line profiles see Results section . The narrow components of the observed profiles were attributed to foreground or background streamers that intersected the observed lines of sight through the coronal holes. Results from the three Spartan 201 flights seem to show that the coronal hole profiles become less complex as the corona evolves toward solar minimum when there are fewer high latitude streamers intersecting the view of coronal holes. In addition to verifying the profile shapes, UVCS/Spartan will provide a fresh radiometric calibration of the UVCS/SOHO instrument. This is needed in order to distinguish changes in the observed intensities of the corona from changes in the efficiency of UVCS/SOHO. The UVCS/Spartan instrument has been retrofitted with newly coated optics and the entire optical paths for both the Lyman alpha and O VI spectrometer channels have been accurately characterized during a laboratory radiometric calibration. These planned joint observations of the corona with both instruments will allow past and future UVCS/SOHO observations to be compared with the earlier UVCS/Spartan observations. Using the data from both instruments will provide valuable information on how the corona changes throughout the solar cycle.
Other Name(s): Spartan 1
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| Spartan 201-4
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| Launch Date: 11/21/1997
SPARTAN 201 is making its fourth flight this time on the shuttle Columbia (Mission STS-87) which is scheduled to launch on 19 November 1997. This was a short-term solar physics observatory deployed during the STS-87 Shuttle mission. Technical problems during release and activiation terminated the planned observations. The payload for SPARTAN Mission 201-4 consists of a White Light Coronagraph (WLC) provided by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and an Ultraviolet Coronal Spectrometer (UVCS) provided by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The primary goal of the SPARTAN 201-4 mission is to study the physical properties of the corona and to update the absolute radiometric calibrations for two of the coronagraphs on the current ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. Intercalibration observations are planned for SOHO/UVCS and SOHO/LASCO. The SPARTAN instruments are designed to characterize the plasma conditions of the extended corona by determining values for electron densities; proton thermal and nonthermal random velocity distributions, densities, and bulk flow velocities.
Other Name(s):
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| Spartan 201-5
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| Launch Date: 10/29/1998
Short duration solar observatory deployed during STS 95 shuttle mission. Coordinated observations of the Sun were made with the SOHO spacecraft. Spartan 201 is a free-flying payload that will study the solar wind and the sun's corona to increase our knowledge of our star's effects on the Earth. The satellite will be deployed and retrieved by the shuttle orbiter Discovery. The Spartan carrier is a simple, reusable vehicle that can carry a variety of scientific instruments at a relatively low cost. After it is deployed from the orbiter in space, it provides its own power, pointing, and data recording as it performs a preprogrammed mission. Spartan 201-05 observations will be coordinated with observations made from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite, a cooperative mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA. The second and third missions were coordinated with the passage of the Ulysses spacecraft over the sun's south and north poles. Also, Spartan 201-05 will also carry three secondary experiments: SPAM, TEXAS, and VGS.
Other Name(s):
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| Spartan A
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 | Launch Date: 06/17/1985
This short duration (45.5 hours) satellite was deployed and recovered on the STS 64 Shuttle mission. This technology demostration satellite also obtained data on astrophysical phenomena of galaxies. Also known as Spartan 1, this was the first demonstration flight of this Shuttle-launched short duration satellite.
Other Name(s): Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy 1, Spartan 1, Spartan 101-F1
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| Spartan Halley
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 | Launch Date: 01/28/1986
This short duration satellite (Spartan 203?) was intended to observe Halley's Comet but was lost onboard Challenger. Spartan Halley (Shuttle Point Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy-203), was a quick response to provide ultra-violet observations of Comet Halley. The experiment and spacecraft were prepared for flight in just 14 months. Spartan Halley was unfortunately lost in the Space Shuttle Challenger accident.
Other Name(s): Spartan 203-F1
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| SPARTAN-201
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| Launch Date: 04/08/1993
SPARTAN satellites study the solar corona. This short-term solar observation satellite was successfully deployed during Shuttle mission STS-56.
Other Name(s): Spartan 201-01, Solar Spartan, Spartan 201-F1
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| ST5
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| Launch Date: 03/22/2006
The Space Technology 5 mission, launched March 22, 2006, and completed June 20, 2006, focused on the design, development, integration and operation of three full service 25-kilogram-class spacecraft that implemented multiple new technologies, functioned as a single constellation, and achieved accurate research-quality scientific measurements. At Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the Space Technology 5 (ST5) Project advanced the technology of miniaturizing smart and powerful electronic gadgets by building and testing three small satellites, also known as micro-sats. Development of these satellites tested and validated new technologies and manufacturing techniques. In addition, the mission contributed to scientists' understanding of the harsh environment of Earth's magnetosphere. The ST5 Project is part of the New Millennium Program (NMP).
Other Name(s): ST5-A, ST5-B and ST-C
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| STEREO
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| Launch Date: 07/22/2006
STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) is the third mission in NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes program (STP). This two-year mission will employ two nearly identical space-based observatories - one ahead of Earth in its orbit, the other trailing behind - to provide the first-ever stereoscopic measurements to study the Sun and the nature of its coronal mass ejections, or CMEs.
Other Name(s): STEREO A and STEREO B
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| STS 4
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 | Launch Date: 06/27/1982
Fourth and last manned orbital test flight of the Space Transportation System with Thomas K Mattingly II and Henry W. Hartsfield to verify the combined performance of the Space Shuttle vehicle.
Other Name(s): Space Transportation System 4, DOD 82-1, Shuttle OFT 4
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| SWAS
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 | Launch Date: 12/05/1998
The Submillimeter Wave Astronomical Satellite observes phenomena of molecular clouds from which planets form. SWAS is one of NASA's Small Explorer Program (SMEX) missions. The overall goal of the mission is to gain a greater understanding of star formation by determining the composition of interstellar clouds and establishing the means by which these clouds cool as they collapse to form stars and planets. Also, the principle objective of the SWAS mission is to better understand the process of star formation through observations of water, molecular oxygen, isotopic carbon monoxide, and atomic carbon.
Other Name(s): Submillimeter Wave Astronomical Satellite, Explorer 74, SMEX/SWAS, Small Explorer/SWAS
| GSFC Link | Project Information | NSSDC Link | Additional URL 1 | Additional URL 2 | Image Gallery | Educational Resource | |
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| Swift
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 | Launch Date: 09/01/2004
Swift is a first-of-its-kind multi-wavelength observatory dedicated to the study of gamma-ray burst (GRB) science. Its three instruments will work together to observe GRBs and afterglows in the gamma-ray, X-ray and optical wavebands. The main mission objectives for Swift are to: Determine the origin of gamma-ray bursts. Classify gamma-ray bursts and search for new types. Determine how the blastwave evolves and interacts with the surroundings. Use gamma-ray bursts to study the early universe. Perform a sensitive survey of the sky in the hard X-ray band. Swift is part of NASA's medium explorer (MIDEX) program being developed by an international collaboration. It will be launched into a low-Earth orbit on a Delta 7320 rocket in September 2004. During its nominal 2-year mission, Swift is expected to observe more than 200 bursts, which will represent the most comprehensive study of GRB afterglow to date.
Other Name(s): Swift Gamma Ray Burst Explorer, MIDEX 3
| GSFC Link | NSSDC Link | Additional URL 1 | Image Gallery | Educational Resource | |
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| Syncom I
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 | Launch Date: 02/14/1963
Intended to test a variety of satellite communications, attitude control, etc., in a 24 hour orbit. Failed early in orbit.
Other Name(s): Syncom 1, Synchronous Communications Satellite 1
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| Syncom II
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 | Launch Date: 07/26/1963
Provided experience using communications and satellite attitude control in a 24-hour orbit.
Other Name(s): Syncom 2, Synchronous Communications Satellite 2
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| Syncom III
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 | Launch Date: 08/19/1964
Continued series of satellites to investigate communications from a 24 hr. synchronous orbit.
Other Name(s): Syncom 3, Synchronous Communications Satellite 3
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