freestar

The primary mission of the MEIDEX payload was to study the temporal and spatial distribution and physical properties of atmospheric desert dust over North Africa, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Saharan regions. The aim was achieved by a remote sensing experiment operated by the astronauts aboard the shuttle. Also, MEIDEX accomplished diverse secondary science objectives by performing slant visibility observations, sea-surface reflectivity observations, desert surface observations and observations of Transient Luminous Events, better known as sprites.

The FREESTAR payload includes six separate experiments mounted on a crossbay HH
Multipurpose Equipment Support Structure (MPESS). Experiments include:

• The Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment (MEIDEX), managed by the Israeli Space Agency (ASI) and Tel-Aviv University (TAU) and sponsored by NASA/HQ Code Y.
• The Shuttle Ozone Limb Sounding Experiment-02 (SOLSE-02), managed by NASA/GSFC Code 916, Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Branch and sponsored by NASA/HQ Code Y.
• The Critical Viscosity of Xenon-2 (CVX-2), managed by NASA/Glenn Research Center (GRC) and sponsored by NASA/HQ Code U.
• The Solar Constant Experiment-3 (SOLCON-3), managed by the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (RMIB) and sponsored by NASA/HQ Code Y.
• The Low Power Transceiver (LPT), managed by NASA/GSFC Code 450 and sponsored by NASA/HQ Code M, with collaboration from the GSFC/ Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO).
• The Space Experiment Module (SEM), managed by the NASA/GSFC SSPPO

FREESTAR, which stands for Fast Reaction Experiments Enabling Science Technology Applications and Research, was a payload of six separate experiments on the Space Shuttle Columbia.
It was mounted on a crossbay Hitchhiker Multipurpose Equipment Support Structure in the shuttle's payload bay during the STS-107 flight, which ended with the disintegration of Columbia during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Although data was lost in the re-entry, much of the data collected while in space, such as that from MEIDEX, had already been transmitted to ground stations.
Critical Viscosity of Xenon-2 (CVX-2)
The Critical Viscosity of Xenon-2 Experiment measures the viscous behavior of xenon – a heavy, inert gas used in flash lamps and ion rocket engines – at its critical point.
The data from the CVX-2 experiment was believed lost in the disaster. The hard drive that carried its data, a Seagate ST9385AG 2.5" hard drive with 400 MB storage capacity,[1] was found and believed to be melted beyond recognition. In 2008, however, a data recovery specialist cleaned the hard drive's storage platters and rebuilt them into a new hard drive. They were able to recover 99% of the data, saving the experiment.