SAMPEX is the first of SMEX’es (SMall EXplorers). SAMPEX was
launched in July 1992 from Western Test Range (Lompoc,CA) at
1419 UT on July 3, 1992. SAMPEX orbits at an altitude 520 by 670
Km and 82 degrees inclination and carries four instruments on
board. SAMPEX measures energetic electrons as well as ion
composition of particle populations from ~0.4 MeV/nucleon to
hundreds of MeV/nucleon from a zenith-oriented satellite in a
near polar orbit. The Payload combines some of the most
sensitive particle sensors ever flown in space. The SAMPEX
mission ended on June 30, 2004. SAMPEX Studies the
energy,composition, and charge states of particles from
supernova explosions in the distant reaches of the galaxy, from
the heart of solar flares, and from the depths of nearby
interstellar space. It also monitors closely the magnetospheric
particle populations which plunge occasionally into the middle
atmosphere of the Earth, thereby ionizing neutral gases and
altering the atmospheric chemistry. A key part of SAMPEX is to u