[Fast
FAST Introduction

The Fast Auroral SnapshoT (FAST) small-class explorer was launched at 0150 PDT on August 21, 1996 from Vandenberg, CA; FAST was launched on a Pegasus XL into a polar, 400 by 4000 km orbit. Its purpose is to study the detailed plasma physics of the Earth's auroral regions. It will orbit for ~1 year, during which several ground support "campaigns" will coordinate satellite measurements with ground observations of the Aurora Borealis, commonly referred to as the "Northern Lights" , from ground locations in Alaska and Sweden.

The science instruments on board FAST will measure the magnetic and electric fields in the upper atmosphere, and will measure particles' mass, charge, and velocity in order to determine their origin. This information will allow scientists to learn about the interaction of the solar wind with the Earth's magnetosphere. Most of instruments and much of the spacecraft itself were conceived and designed by engineers at the Space Sciences Lab on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley with addtional engineering done by individuals at the University of New Hampshire and Lockheed PA (for the TEAMS) and at UCLA and Los Alamos (for the magnetometer).

For Early Launch Data see the News Announcements and/or Early Images of FAST Data.


The following is an user interface bar. Throughout the FAST homepage, the viewer can simply click on the appropriate link on the bar for easy, fast access. Here is a listing of each link with its purpose:

[UCB/FAST] - [FAST SOC] - [FTP] - [SDT]
[Summary Data] - [SPRG] - [Related Links]
This page is maintained by
Michael Magpayo / magdaddy@sunspot.ssl.berkeley.edu