The SPARTAN 201 Spacecraft

SPARTAN 201 is a small, Shuttle-launched and -retrieved satellite, whose mission is to study the Sun. SPARTAN 201's science payload consists of two telescopes: the Ultraviolet Coronal Spectrometer (UVCS) and the White Light Coronagraph (WLC).

Detailed information about the SPARTAN 201 spacecraft can be found in the NASA Goddard Space Payload Division's SPARTAN 201 Web pages.

Some SPARTAN factoids

Mission duration:		40 hours

Deployed mass:			1136 kg (3000 lb.)

Length:				2.29 m (90 inches)

Translation capability:		none

Attitude control:		3-axis stabilized, cold-gas thrusters,
				maximum slew rate of 1 degree/s, up
				to 500 single-axis maneuvers @ 1 degree/s

Thermal control:		Active and passive (electronics limited
				to 0 C to 50 C)

Data storage:			Onboard recorder, up to 3 Gbit available
[icon] A line drawing of the SPARTAN spacecraft (26 Kbyte)

[icon] An exploded view of the components of the SPARTAN spacecraft (151 Kbyte)

[icon] A view of SPARTAN 201 after its deployment on its first flight, on STS-56 (52 Kbyte JPEG)

[icon] SPARTAN 201 over the island of Crete (38 Kbyte JPEG) (It was cloudy over Sparta.)

[icon] SPARTAN 201 after finishing integration and test for flight 3, at Goddard Space Flight Center (45 Kbyte JPEG)

[icon] SPARTAN 201 and some of the Goddard Code 740 people who make it possible (43 Kbyte JPEG)

[icon] SPARTAN 201 and its flight support structure (white), which holds it in the Shuttle payload bay (60 Kbyte JPEG)

[icon] A view of the SPARTAN 201 grapple fixture, with which the Shuttle astronauts recover the SPARTAN with the Remote Manipulator System (71 Kbyte JPEG)

And for those who believe that someone special is looking out for SPARTAN 201....

[icon] A view of the SPARTAN 201, before its first flight, after a truck trip that included Memphis, Tennessee (77 Kbyte JPEG)

What? You couldn't recognize who that was? OK, here's a closeup.

This is the access to this page since July 10, 1995.
Return to the SPARTAN 201 home page.