QuikTOMS (Quick Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer) satellite

The fifth launch of NASA's TOMS instrument. TOMS-5 had been scheduled fly aboard the Russian Meteor-3M(2) satellite but this mission was terminated in April 1999. Because of the urgent need to continue the daily mapping of the global distribution of atmospheric ozone, TOMS-5 was moved to a modified Microstar Bus tailored for the QuikTOMS mission and procured through the Goddard Space Flight Center's Rapid Spacecraft Development Office. It took off on Sep. 21, 2001 aboard a Taurus rocket as a secondary payload alongside the OrbView-4 satellite but ended up in the Indian Ocean minutes later after the launch vehicle malfunctioned.

Related category

• SATELLITES AND SPACE PROBES

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