'Whatever happened to ...' - A scientific review of three astronomy satellites in which BAe has been involved

Scientific benefits gained through operations of the Cos-B, Ariel VI, and TD-1A astronomy satellites are explored. The Cos-B gamma ray satellite, launched in August 1975 carries a spark chamber and has yielded data on gamma ray emissions from the Galaxy, diffuse gamma radiation from outside the Galaxy, and point-like gamma ray sources. The Ariel-VI X ray satellite features a gas scintillation/Cerenkov detector, an X ray telescope system for soft X rays, and one for radiation in the 1.2-50 keV range. It has acquired data on the object Cyg X-1, SS433, HZ43, active galaxies, and cosmic ray elemental abundances. The TD-1A satellite was launched in March 1972 for all sky UV mapping, UV stellar spectrometry, X ray astronomy from 2-30 keV, solar gamma ray astronomy in the 50-500 MeV range, solar X ray measurement in the 20-700 keV interval, and gamma ray intensities at levels over 30 MeV.