FREESTAR Payload
Cross-bay multidisciplinary Hitchhiker research carrier
FREESTAR - Fast Reaction Experiments Enabling Science, Technology, Applications and Research - was a six-investigation Hitchhiker payload mounted on a cross-bay support structure during STS-107. Managed through NASA Goddard and Wallops, the carrier combined a xenon critical-fluid experiment, reprogrammable communications hardware, Israeli dust imaging, student experiments, a solar radiometer, and an ozone limb sounder. Its mix of Sun-, Earth-, and inward-looking instruments operated alongside Columbia's SPACEHAB research, with substantial data transmitted before the vehicle and crew were lost.
Parent systems
The larger spacecraft or system this hardware belongs to.
Payload dossier
Identity and integration
- Official payload designation
- Fast Reaction Experiments Enabling Science, Technology, Applications and Research (FREESTAR)
- Program developer and operator
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Wallops Flight Facility Shuttle Small Payloads Project managed the carrier and flight integration
- Critical-fluid instrument configuration
- Critical Viscosity of Xenon-2 occupied two canisters on the cross-bay Hitchhiker support structure
Research configuration
- Communications instrument frequency range
- The reprogrammable Low Power Transceiver transmitted and received L- and S-band communications signals and processed GPS L-band navigation signals
- Earth-observation instrument function
- MEIDEX used multi-angle visible and infrared observations to characterize Mediterranean and Saharan dust transport and its radiative effects
- Solar instrument function
- SOLCON-3 measured total solar irradiance with an absolute radiometer and extended an earlier Shuttle solar-constant record
- Student-experiment capacity
- Space Experiment Module-14 contained 11 separate investigations from schools across the United States
Resources and accommodations
- Hitchhiker payload mass accommodation
- The Shuttle Small Payloads Project carrier family supported customer payloads from approximately 50 to 4,000 pounds
- Investigation capacity and complement
- Six investigations: CVX-2, Low Power Transceiver, MEIDEX, SEM-14, SOLCON-3, and SOLSE-2
- Data return and final disposition
- Much of FREESTAR's science and engineering telemetry reached investigators during flight; the carrier was lost with Columbia during on February 1, 2003
Dimensions and construction
- Carrier construction and payload-bay span
- Six experiments mounted on a bridge-like Hitchhiker Mission Peculiar Equipment Support Structure spanning Columbia's payload bay
Flight operations and results
- Mission operation
- The STS-107 payload crew operated FREESTAR as part of a 24-hour, two-shift science plan during Columbia's 16-day research mission
Additional specifications
- Critical-fluid measurement capability
- CVX-2 measured xenon viscosity near its critical point where gravity-driven density stratification would obscure the behavior on Earth
- Communications technology function
- LPT demonstrated a modular multi-channel platform for telemetry, tracking, command, precision navigation, and future crosslink or formation-flight applications
- Atmospheric sensor coverage
- SOLSE-2 viewed Earth's limb in ultraviolet wavelengths to retrieve the vertical distribution of ozone
Supported mission records
Missions that carried, used, tested, serviced, or depended on this hardware.
Photo Archive
Documented views of this individual vehicle, with source and credit retained alongside each image.