The Space Test Program APEX Mission - Flight Results

An overview is presented of the Air Force Space Test Programs Advanced Photovoltaic and Electronics Experiments (APEX) Mission. APEX was launched on the Pegasus air-launched booster in August of 1994. It carried three Department of Defense experiments which were designed to test the effects of space exposure and radiation on solar arrays and electronic circuits. A description of the spacecraft and the experiment payloads is provided, and the development history of the satellite is reviewed. Launch and on-orbit operations are described, including how the mission control team was able to respond to a number of on-orbit anomalies in order to allow operation of the spacecraft to be resumed. Finally, results from the experiment data obtained during the mission are summarized.