Pegasus Satellite
PEGSAT was a rapidly developed NASA Goddard spacecraft that served as the instrumented payload for Pegasus's maiden orbital flight. It measured the new launch vehicle's mechanical environment, carried two chemical-release canisters for studies of ion acceleration above the aurora, and deployed the U.S. Navy's compact SECS communications experiment after reaching orbit.
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Identity
- Aliases
- PEGSATPegasus 001AUSA-54
- Name
- Pegasus Satellite
- Slug
- pegasus-satellite-pegsat
- Status
- completed
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- PEGSAT was a rapidly developed NASA Goddard spacecraft that served as the instrumented payload for Pegasus's maiden orbital flight. It measured the new launch vehicle's mechanical environment, carried two chemical-release canisters for studies of ion acceleration above the aurora, and deployed the U.S. Navy's compact SECS communications experiment after reaching orbit.
- Launch Site
- Outcome
- PEGSAT reached its high-inclination orbit on the first Pegasus flight, returned launch-environment measurements, deployed SECS, and conducted barium and strontium releases over northern Canada in April 1990. The flight validated both the low-cost spacecraft approach and key techniques for later chemical-release research.
- Program
- Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite precursor experiments
- Start Date
- 1990-04-05
- Vehicle Families
Links
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- July 18, 2026 at 17:48:34 UTC
- Updated Time
- July 18, 2026 at 17:48:34 UTC
Other
- Affiliations
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles