Jim Sahli								Aug. 27, 1996
Goddard Space Flight Center			
Greenbelt, Md.  
(301) 286-0697

FAST SPACECRAFT STATUS REPORT #2

	The on-orbit checkout and configuration of the FAST spacecraft is 
proceeding exceptionally well, according to project officials at NASA’s Goddard 
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.  Goddard engineers and scientists are 
managing the FAST project for the space agency.

	After a successful launch Aug. 21, NASA’s Fast Auroral Snapshot (FAST) 
Explorer spacecraft, remains in a 217 by 2,597 mile (350 by 4,180 kilometer) 
orbit.  FAST was launched into orbit at the Western Test Range, near Vandenberg 
Air Force Base, Calif., using a winged Pegasus-XL launch vehicle.   

	Officials reported late Monday that the Power and Attitude Control Systems 
on the spacecraft have been validated and are operating nominally. The 
spacecraft’s instrument controller has been turned on and is successfully flowing 
high data telemetry to the ground.  Data from FAST once fully operational will 
use several ground stations throughout the world to directly down-linked to data.  
These include the transportable ground station in Poker Flat, Alaska, a ground 
station at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va., another NASA 
transportable ground station in McMurdo Station, Antarctica and a European 
ground station in Kiruna, Sweden.

	The spacecraft’s magnetometer booms were successfully deployed on 
Friday afternoon (Aug. 23) and have begun returning excellent data. All hardware 
systems are functioning as good or better than planned.  At the end of this week, 
the electric field sensor wire boom deployment is planned to begin. Next week the 
particle instruments will be turned on.

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	The FAST spacecraft will probe the physical processes that produce the 
aurora borealis and aurora australis. It is a unique plasma physics experiment 
that will take fundamental measurements of the magnetic and electrical field by 
flying through the highest altitude regions to date of the aurora where 
acceleration of charged particles expelled from the Sun begins.  This investigation 
will add significantly to our understanding of the near-Earth space environment 
and its effect.

	FAST is the second of five missions in NASA's Small Explorer (SMEX) 
Project developed by Goddard.  The SMEX satellites are small observatories that 
are being used to support quick response astrophysics and space physics 
investigations, as well as to develop new low cost approaches for improving 
satellite productivity in space research.  FAST’s five scientific instruments will 
gather high time resolution "snapshots" of the electric fields, magnetic fields, and 
energetic electron and ion distributions at high altitudes of 1,200 - 2,600 miles 
and at high latitudes near the Earth's magnetic poles.

	Information on the FAST mission can be obtained via the Internet World 
Wide Web at URL:  
	
	http://sunland.gsfc.nasa.gov/smex/fast/fast_top.html

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