FASTSAT-HSV01 (USA 220)

FASTSAT-HSV01 (USA 220) is classified as:

Space & Earth Science

NORAD ID: 37225

Int'l Code: 2010-062D

Launch date: November 20, 2010
Source: United States (US)
Launch site: Kodiak Island, Alaska (KODAK)

This NASA craft—short for Fast, Affordable Science and Technology Satellite—weighs about 325 pounds (148 kilograms) and is about the size of a washing machine It's part of a broader NASA effort to find ways to perform research in space cheaply and reliably. The agency spent less than $12 million developing the spacecraft, agency officials have said. FASTSAT is carrying six different scientific experiments. One of those is a smaller satellite called NanoSail-D, an 8.5-pound (3.9-kg) probe designed to eject from FASTSAT and deploy a solar sail in orbit. Solar sails catch photons from the sun much as ships' sails catch the wind. NanoSail-D will use its solar sail to deorbit itself, potentially demonstrating a new way to bring satellites and debris back to Earth without any chemical propellant, NASA officials have said. Also onboard FASTSAT are three NASA instruments designed to monitor space weather, as well as two payloads managed by the U.S. Air Force. One is a low-cost star-tracking instrument, and the other is a device that will evaluate techniques used to measure how beams of light move through Earth's atmosphere.