This is the original Spartain flight instrument carried into space five times in the Shuttle payload bay and deployed for the duration of each mission into a parallel orbit with Shuttle. The SPARTAN program was created by NASA in the 1980s to replace its suborbital sounding rocket program. The scientific payloads for SPARTAN therefore were of the same order as those formerly carried aloft by Aerobees and other sounding rockets. This retrievable system as presently instrumented houses an ultraviolet coronagraph from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and a white light coronagraph from the Goddard Space Flight Center. These devices use internal and external means of occulting the solar photosphere to reveal the structure of the sun's faint outer atmosphere. They and other similar instruments studied the solar corona on five separate occasions and played a part in numerous Shuttle exercises.
This particular SPARTAN 2101 configuration was reassembled by Swales, Inc., under NASA contract, for display at the Hazy Center in 2003. They reintegrated both the Goddard and SAO coronagraphs.
Display Status
This object is on display in Space Science at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA.
Object Details
Country of Origin
United States of America
Type
SPACECRAFT-Uncrewed
Manufacturer
Swales Engineering Services, Inc.
Dimensions
Overall: 7ft 8in. x 10ft 2in. x 6ft, 3300lb. (233.68 x 309.88 x 182.88cm, 1496.9kg)
Materials
Mixed metals, foil, optics, electronics
Alternate Name
Spartan 201 Satellite
Inventory Number
A20040121000
Credit Line
Transferred from National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Goddard Space Flight Center.
Data Source
National Air and Space Museum
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
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