SAC-C is an international cooperative mission between NASA, the Argentine Commission on Space Activities (CONAE), Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES or the French Space Agency), Instituto ... Nacional De Pesquisas Espaciais (Brazilian Space Agency), Danish Space Research Institute, and Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (Italian Space Agency). SAC-C was developed through the partnership of its senior partners, CONAE and NASA with contributions from Brazil, Denmark, France, and Italy.
SAC-C will provide multispectral imaging of terrestrial and coastal environments. The spacecraft will study the structure and dynamics of the Earth?s atmosphere, ionosphere and geomagnetic field. SAC-C will seek to measure the space radiation in the environment and its influence on advanced electronic components. The satellite will determine the migration route of the Franca whale and verify autonomous methods of attitude and orbit determination.
CONAE is responsible for development of the spacecraft and several instruments. The Brazilian Space Agency provided the testing facilities for SAC-C. The Italian Space Agency has partnered with CONAE to supply both solar panels and two GPS receivers. The Danish Space Research Institute provided the Magnetic Mapping Payload which carries a NASA Supplied Helium Magnetometer, and CNES is contributing an experiment to test the response of electronic circuitry to space radiation. The launch vehicle and some science instruments are provided by NASA. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. is responsible for overall project management.
[Summary provided by NASA]