Hitchhiker Program
The program was designed to allow low-cost and quick reactive experiments to be placed on board the Space Shuttle.
Hitchhikers were intended for customers whose space activity requires power, data or command services.
Along with NASA's Get Away Specials (GAS), Hitchhiker was developed and operated by the Goddard Space Flight Center Shuttle Small Payloads Project (SSPP).
Unlike Hitchhikers, GAS payloads were only mounted in canisters, did not connect to orbiter electrical services and did not require significant Shuttle support.
Customer hardware mounted on plates may have needed additional customer-provided thermal control provisions, such as heaters or blankets.
Capillary Pump Loop (CPL) Data Systems Experiment (DSE), NASA GSFC Spacecraft Kinetic Infrared Test (SKIRT)-Circular Variable Filter(CVF) / GLOS Ultraviolet Limb Imaging Experiment (UVLIMB), NRL/USAF CONCAP II-01 CONCAP III-01 LDCE-02 LDCE-03 Cryogenic Heat Pipe Experiment (CRYOHP) Shuttle Glow (GLO-1)ODERACS-1RBREMSATODERACS-1RBREMSATODERACS-1RBREMSATODERACS-1RBREMSATLDCE-07LDCE-08LDCE-08 Cryogenic Two Phase (CRYOTP), NASA GSFC/USAF Phillips Lab Emulsion Chamber Technology (ECT), NASA MSFC Experimental Investigation of Spacecraft Glow (EISG), NASA JSC/NASA GSFC Solar Array Module Plasma Interaction Experiment (SAMPIE), NASA LeRC Spacecraft Kinetic Infrared Test (SKIRT), NASA JSC/NASA GSFC Shuttle Glow (GLO-2), U of AZ IMAX Cargo Bay Camera (ICBC) Orbital Debris Radar Calibration System-II (ODERACS-II), USAF Shuttle Glow Experiment-3 (GLO-3), U of AZ Solar Extreme Ultraviolet HH (SEH), USC Photogrammetric Appendage Structural Dynamics Experiment Payload (PASDE-01) GPS Attitude and Navigation Experiment (GANE), NASA/JSC Liquid Metal Thermal Experiment (LMTE), USAF Phillips Laboratory Passive Aerodynamically-Stabilized Magnetically-Damped Satellite (PAMS), NASA GSFC Infrared Spectral Imaging Radiometer (ISIR), NASA GSFC Critical Viscosity of Xenon (CVX-01), NASA LeRC Space Experiment Module (SEM-02), NASA GSFC Solar Constant (SOLCON-1), Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium Two-Phase Flow (TPF), NASA GSFC COOLLAR Flight Experiment (CFE), USAF Phillips Lab Shuttle Glow Experiment-5 & 6 (GLO-5 & 6), U of AZ Solar Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (SEH), USC Distribution and Automation Technology Advancement - Colorado Hitchhiker And Student Experiment of solar Radiation (DATA-CHASER), University of Colorado Sodium Surface Battery Experiment (NaSBE), NRL Satellite de Aplicaciones Cientifico-A (SAC-A), Argentinean National Commission of Space Activities Solar Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (SEH), USC STAR-LITE, U of AZ Petite Amateur Navy Satellite (PANSAT), USAF Space Test Program Solar Constant Experiment (SOLCON-02), Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium Solar Constant Experiment (SOLCON-03), Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium Shuttle Ozone Limb Sounding Experiment (SOLSE-2), NASA GSFC Critical Viscosity of Xenon (CVX-2), NASA GRC Low Power Transceiver (LPT), NASA GSFC and ITT Industries SEM-14 STARSHINE-2, Rocky Mountain NASA Space Grant Consortium / USU Prototype Synchrotron Radiation Detector (PSRD), NASA JSCThe Hitchhiker carrier system was modular and expandable in accordance with payload requirements.
This flexibility allowed maximum efficiency in utilizing orbiter resources and increased the potential for early manifesting on the shuttle.
The side-mount carrier was usually installed in the forward starboard side of the payload bay, although other configurations and locations were possible.
NASA created Hitchhikers to provide customers with a way to send small payloads into orbit on the Space Shuttle.
To keep the project on schedule, experiments needed to fit in canisters or on mounting plates and meet standard mechanical and electrical interfaces.
The avionics unit also carried the equipment for transmitting the data real-time to the ground control center.
Data was sent down to the control center in real time, but it also was recorded at Goddard once it reached the ground.
