Advanced Photovoltaic and Electronic Experiments
APEX was a U.S. Space Test Program satellite built around the PegaStar platform to study photovoltaic and electronic hardware in the space environment. Its principal PASP Plus payload exposed diverse solar-cell technologies to plasma and radiation while diagnostic instruments measured arcing, leakage current, radiation, spectral irradiance, and array performance across an elliptical orbit.
Follow this mission
Alerts are unavailable because this mission is no longer active.
Identity
- Aliases
- APEXPegaStar1994-046A
- Name
- Advanced Photovoltaic and Electronic Experiments
- Status
- completed
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- APEX was a U.S. Space Test Program satellite built around the PegaStar platform to study photovoltaic and electronic hardware in the space environment. Its principal PASP Plus payload exposed diverse solar-cell technologies to plasma and radiation while diagnostic instruments measured arcing, leakage current, radiation, spectral irradiance, and array performance across an elliptical orbit.
- Destination
- Highly elliptical Earth orbit at approximately 363 × 2,550 km altitude and 70° inclination for photovoltaic and electronic experiments in the space environment
- Launch Site
- Outcome
- APEX reached its planned elliptical orbit and completed a 69-month flight. PASP Plus gathered data from August 1994 through August 1995, returning an unusually broad record of solar-array behavior in plasma and radiation environments, while the mission's calibration and electronics experiments supported improved spacecraft power-system design and test standards.
- Programs
- Start Date
- 1994-08-03
- Vehicle Families
Links
- Official Url
- https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19970018584
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- July 18, 2026 at 17:57:10 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 23, 2026 at 06:28:15 UTC
- Image
- Download
Other
- Affiliations
- Search Name
- Advanced Photovoltaic and Electronic Experiments APEX PegaStar 1994-046A
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles