From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
shuttle pallet satellite
was a satellite bus designed to be deployed and then retrieved for return to Earth on NASA's
Space Shuttle
. It carried a variety of payloads both scientific and military in nature.
It was made by
Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm
and first flew in 1983. It was carried for the first time during the
STS-7
mission and called SPAS-01 carrying 10 payloads.
[1]
It flew again on the
STS-39
mission in 1991 called IBSS-SPAS (Infrared Background Signature Survey ? Shuttle Pallet Satellite) for the DOD testing various ballistic missile detection sensors.
[2]
SPAS flew for the third time with the
STS-51
mission in 1991 called ORFEUS-SPAS (Orbiting & Retrievable Far & Extreme UV Spectrometer ? Shuttle Pallet Satellite) with ultraviolet instruments. ORFEUS-SPAS was flown again on the
STS-80
mission.
[3]
SPAS was flown for the second to last time with the CRISTA-SPAS (Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers & Telescopes for the Atmosphere ? Shuttle Pallet Satellite) payload on
STS-66
in 1994 mounting several infrared sensors looking at the Earths atmosphere, and that payload flew again on
STS-85
in 1997.
[4]
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
ORFEUS-SPAS II after being deployed from
Columbia
on STS-80
-
The first SPAS on the RMS of
Challenger
during the STS-7 mission
-
IBSS-SPAS after being deployed from
Discovery
'
s payload bay during the STS-39 mission
-
CRISTA-SPAS 1 on
Atlantis
'
RMS before release on the STS-66 mission
References
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Components
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Orbiters
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Add-ons
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Sites
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Operations
and training
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Testing
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Disasters
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Support
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Special
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Space suits
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Experiments
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Derivatives
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Replicas
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Related
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