WIRE Specifications

Launch Date: 4 March 1999

Mission duration: Four months

Mass: 250 kg total, 87 kg instrument

Power: 170 W orbit average, 35 W instrument; two deployed GaAs solar arrays, nine A-Hr "super" Ni-Cd batteries

ACS: Momentum bias, three-axis stabilized, two arc min pointing, three-axis magnetometer, six coarse sun sensors, digital sun sensor, three gyros, star tracker, earth sensor, three torque rods, four reaction wheels

C&DH: 80386 processor; 300 Mbyte memory; 2 kbps uplink; 23.4375, 1125, and 2250 kbps downlink

RF: S-band transponder with 5W transmitter