THE BREM-SAT MISSION - FIRST FLIGHT RESULTS

On 3 February 1994, the small University satellite BREM-SAT was carrie d into orbit by the Space Shuttle Discovery. The spacecraft waited six days in its Get Away Special (GAS) Container before it was deployed i n its initial 350 km high circular orbit. With 57 degrees inclination, the operations from the ground station at the Drop Tower Bremen are p ossible. BREM-SAT carries six experiments with different scientific ob jectives. Experiments using the micro-g environment are operated as we ll as experiments investigating the low earth orbital environment. Two sensors measure the micrometeorite and dust flux and the atomic oxyge n flux. In addition, re-entry experiments will be carried out during t he last hours before re-entry, which is expected in January 1995. One of these experiments determines the gas/surface interaction, the other experiments uses deployable temperature and pressure sensors for meas urements shortly before re-entry. The experience of operating a small, but complex and versatile platform with ambitious objectives will be described in detail. First results of the spacecraft operations are pr esented.