The SAMS is an acceleration measurement and data acquisition instrument designed to sense, measure, condition, and record low-level accelerations and vibrations; it documents the actual microgravity environment during experiment operations in space. The SAMS consists of a main control unit and as many as three remotely positioned triaxial sensor heads, each containing orthogonally positioned accelerometers. Cables connect the sensor heads to the main unit, which contains analog and digital signal processing circuitry and two optical disk drives for data storage. Data transmitted via the sensor cables include accelerometer output, temperature sensor output, and control signal input, all of which are time stamped in the main unit.
This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.