Description of P78-2 (SCATHA) satellite and experiments

The P78-2 (SCATHA) satellite was placed into a near synchronous orbit in early February 1979. The satellite was a part of a joint U.S. Air Force/NASA program to study spacecraft charging. The satellite has its spin axis approximately parallel to the Earth's equatorial plane. This allows good pitch angle coverage by the particle experiments. The experiment complement consists of a complete set of plasma, energetic particle, composition, field and wave experiments. The satellite has already provided over two years of data; about one year (February, 1979 to March, 1980) of it has been provided to the experimenters as formatted digital tapes. The data is of very high quality and the coverage is good (> 90%).