Aeros

Artist's concept of Aeros in orbit

A pair of German satellites that investigated the ionosphere in the 1970s. Both were launched by Scout D rockets from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

In June 1969, NASA and the German Ministry for Scientific Research (BMwF) agreed a cooperative project that would orbit a German scientific satellite designed to study particle behavior in the Earth's upper atmosphere. In early 1969 BMwF named the proposed aeronomy satellite after Aeros, ancient Greek god of the air. Aeros, the second U.S.-German cooperative research satellite, following Azur, was designated GRS-A-2 by NASA before launch, assuming its proper name when successfully launched. ("Aeros" also had been used earlier as a name for the Synchronous Meteorological Satellite project.)

spacecraft	launch date	mass	orbit
Aeros 1	Dec. 16, 1972	223 × 867 km × 96.9°	127 kg
Aeros 2	Jul. 16, 1974	224 × 869 km × 97.5°	127 kg

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• SATELLITES AND SPACE PROBES

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