Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer

This is a flight spare 32-level digitized grid spark chamber sensitive to gamma rays of energies above 35 mev. It was built for the SAS-B satellite, also known as SAS-2 or Explorer 48, the second spacecraft designed specifically to study gamma rays. The wire grid detector used for this satellite was the precursor for the one used on the highly sucessful EGRET instrument on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. SAS-B provided the first full-sky gamma-ray map and identified the gamma-ray behavior of objects such as the Vela Pulsar. This flight spare was used for many years as a laboratory test device at the Goddard Space Flight Center and later at Wallops Island.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center transferred this object to the Museum in 1994.

 Display Status

This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.
Object Details
Country of Origin United States of America Type INSTRUMENTS-Scientific Manufacturer NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center
 Dimensions 3-D: 134.6 × 114.3 × 127cm (53 × 45 × 50 in.)
Storage (Aluminum pallet and frame with fabric cover): 153.7 × 157.5 × 168.3cm, 309.4kg (60 1/2 × 62 × 66 1/4 in., 682lb.)
 Materials Steel, Cadmium Plating, Paint, Nylon, Plastic, Gold Plating, Stainless Fabric, Aluminum, Foam, Fiberglas, Wood, Rubber (Silicone)
 Inventory Number A19950159000 Credit Line Transferred from NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center. Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use.