FAST, the second mission in NASA’s Small Explorer Satellite Program (SMEX), was a satellite designed to study Earth’s aurora. This highly successful spacecraft has helped scientists answer fundamental questions about the causes and makeup of the aurora; please see publications or nuggets that have come from analysis of FAST data. FAST’s primary objective was to study the microphysics of space plasma and the accelerated particles that cause the aurora.

Fast Auroral SnapshoT Explorer