Sphinx (satellite)

Sphinx

The Sphinx satellite in 1972
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Satellite
Manufacturer	NASA
Dry mass	113 kg[1]
Start of mission
Launch date	February 11, 1974
Rocket	Titan IIIE Centaur
Launch site	Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 41
End of mission
Destroyed	T+748 seconds[2]

SPHINX (short for Space Plasma High Voltage Interaction Experiment) was a test satellite developed by NASA as the payload for the first Titan IIIE Centaur rocket. It was launched on February 11, 1974 alongside the Viking Dynamic Simulator (VDS), a dummy model of the Viking space probe that would eventually be sent to Mars.