Bremsat
Ten years after its last geophysics satellite project with the US and the UK (AMPTE, 1984), Germany returned to the field with a small free flying satellite deployed by the US Space Shuttle. The University of Bremen, with the financial support of DARA and the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology, developed the 63-kg micro-satellite named Bremsat to conduct a variety of experiments, including an analysis of the flux of tiny micrometeroids and space debris in very low Earth orbits. The 0.5-m diameter dodecahedron carried a useful payload of nearly 50% of the total spacecraft mass. Released at an altitude of approximately 350 km by STS-60 on 9 February 1994, the spacecraft performed exceptionally well until its reentry into the Earth's atmosphere almost exactly one year later. Particles as small as 10-15 g were detectable by the sensitive impact counter (Reference 48).
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