Equator-S
Satellite operational between 1997 and 1998
The Equator-S satellite was a spacecraft constructed by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics for the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics Science Initiative. It was operational between 2 December 1997 and 1 May 1998.
01Description
Equator-S was a low-cost mission, launched with the intention to study the Earth's magnetosphere around the equator at heights lower than 67,000 km. It was located in a near-equatorial orbit, which gave Equator-S the ability to make unique observations about the interaction between the magnetosphere and interplanetary space. Equator-S had a very high spin rate and was launched on an Ariane 4 rocket on 2 December 1997.
The mission ended earlier than expected, having initially been intended to have a lifetime of two years. The mission was terminated on 1 May 1998 after the failure of the onboard processor system.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Equator-S”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Equator-s gif.gif by NASA, Public domain
- Satellite Equator S.jpg by NASA, Public domain
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