Firewheel Subsats 1, 2, 3 & 4

Spacecraft Nº:

Germany spacecraft Nº:

Launch data: Designation  80F02 Launch date  23 May 1980 Launch site  Ko, ELA-1 Launch vehicle  Ariane-1 (L02) Mission  Research Decay  23 May 1980 Launch failure (Explosed).

Firewheel Subsat

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• The Firewheel subsatellites would have been ejected from Firewheel (FIRE-A), and carried diagnostic instruments for observation of the ion releases in the night magnetosphere. The spacecraft were battery-operated, with a lifetime of less than 48 hours. The instruments would have measured the charged particle distributions and the local vector magnetic field.