The Antarctic Fiber Optic Spectrometer (AFOS) is one of a suite of ins
truments of the Automated Astrophysical Site Testing Observatory (AAST
O) installed at the South Pole in 1996 December. In 1998, the AFOS wil
l be attached to an altitude-azimuth mount and commence regular astron
omical observations. In the years 1998-2000, the AASTO will be moved t
o other remote locations, high on the Antarctic plateau, in order to c
omplete the site testing campaign. The AFOS experiment consists of a 3
0 cm Newtonian telescope injecting light into a 45 m length of optical
fibers that feed a UV-visible (200-840 nm) grating spectrograph insid
e the warm shelter. Tn this paper we describe the instrument and the f
irst results. The main requirement of the design was reliable operatio
n In an extremely cold environment, without maintenance, for 12 months
. This has been achieved despite the very low power (approximately 7 W
) available to run the instrument.