Optical investigations of ionosphere. EXOS-C (OHZORA). Optical study of the stratosphere and middle atmosphere. Study of the specific phenomena of the ionospheric plasma over the southern Atlantic geomagnetic anomaly zone which was discovered by the third scientific satellite "TAIYO". Launch vehicle Mu-3S-4, launching organization ISAS (Institute of Space and Astronautical Science).

Auroral studies. Active life - two years. Function: 1) Observation of wide angle global auroral pictures using UV television camera. 2) Spectrophotometry of ultraviolet air glow. 3) Observation of the energy spectrum of photoelectrons and auroral electrons. 4) Mass spect rometry of the ionized atmospheric species in the thermosphere. 5) Measurements of density and temperature of ambient electrons in the thermosphere. 6) Observation of electromagnetic and plasma waves and the emission associated with auroral phenomena.

Launching organization: Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science, University of Tokyo. Stimulated plasma wave experiment, natural plasma wave measurement, plasma parameter measurement by VLF Doppler technique, electric field probe and plasma density me asurement, energetic particle analysis, and controlled electron beam emission experiment. Characteristics: weight 90.5 kg, configuration - polyhedron with 38 faces, height 0.6m , diameter 0.75m, attitude control spin stabilization, life two years.

Optical investigations of ionosphere. EXOS-C (OHZORA). Optical study of the stratosphere and middle atmosphere. Study of the specific phenomena of the ionospheric plasma over the southern Atlantic geomagnetic anomaly zone which was discovered by the third scientific satellite 'TAIYO'. Launch vehicle Mu-3S-4, launching organization ISAS (Institute of Space and Astronautical Science). Launch time 0800 GMT.

Studied aurora borealis, auroral australis. EXOS-D (Akebono). Observation in high precision of behaviour and acceleration mechanism of aurora particles in Earth magnetosphere. Launching organization ISAS. Launch time 2330 GMT.

• 2 - McDowell, Jonathan, The United Nations Registry of Space Objects, Harvard University, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/un/un.html
• 6 - JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html
• 279 - McDowell, Jonathan, Launch Log, October 1998. HTML when accessed: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/log/launch.html