The AMPTE scientific satellite

The instrumentation and design characteristics of the United Kingdom Subsatellite (UKS) module of the Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorer are described. The AMPTE satellite was launched on August 16th 1984 and was designed to collect information concerning magnetospheric processes by means of flow visualization of ionized lithium and barium gases following explosive release from an Ion Release Module (IRM). The UKS module of the AMPTE satellite was positioned in the center of a stack configuration and was designed to be strong enough to carry launch loads through to the rest of the stack, and stiff enough to resist stack vibration. The instrumentation onboard the UKS included a vector fluxgate magnetometer; a three-dimensional electron analyzer, and electric field sensors. Attitude sensing was carried out by five sun sensors onboard the satellite which correlated time pulse measurements with two ground based sensors. A series of photographs and line drawings is provided which describes the instrument complement and tracking systems in detail.