AKA: 75-1-2. First Launch: 1959-09-17. Last Launch: 2014-07-02. Number: 93 . Longitude: -120.62 deg. Latitude: 34.76 deg.
A Thor/Agena D booster was employed to launch eight military satellites into orbit from Vandenberg AFB. This was the largest number of individual payloads yet orbited by the United States with one launch vehicle. First launch of a quadruplet of Poppy naval signals intelligence satellites, which would lead to the NOSS production series. Official and secondary mission: Solar radiation data.
OSCAR III was launched piggyback with seven United States Air Force satellites. Weight 16.3 kg. It was the first amateur satellite to operate from solar power and relay signals from Earth. OSCAR III was the first true amateur satellite relaying voice contacts in the VHF 2 meter band through a 1 W 50 kHz wide linear transponder (146 MHz uplink and 144 MHz downlink). OSCAR III's transponder lasted 18 days. More than 1000 amateurs in 22 countries communicated through the linear transponder. The two beacon transmitters continued operating for several months.
Note: Designed, built, and tested, a predecssor, OSCAR* was never launched. Similar in design to OSCAR I and II, OSCAR* contained a 250 mW beacon with phase-coherent keying. OSCAR* was never launched as the workers decided to focus their efforts on the first relay satellite -- OSCAR III.
A Thor/Agena D booster was employed to launch eight military satellites into orbit from Vandenberg AFB. This was the largest number of individual payloads yet orbited by the United States with one launch vehicle. Surveillance calibration. Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A).
Second launch of a quadruplet of Poppy naval signals intelligence satellites, which would lead to the NOSS production series. Official and secondary mission: Gravity gradient stabilization tests. Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A).
The last scheduled Air Force Thrust Augmented Thor/Agena (SLV-2A //498/SS-01B #2733) to be launched from Vandenberg AFB was the 150th Thor/ Agena vehicle fired from there since Discoverer I was launched on 28 February 1959. From now on, the Air Force would use the more advanced Long Tank Thrust Augmented Thor (SLV-2G) - Thorad - and the newer SLV-2H.
NASA successfully launched the Improved Tiros Operational Satellite (ITOS I) (TIROS-M) from Vandenberg AFB aboard a two-stage, Long Tank Thrust Augmented Thor/Delta (SLV-2K), Thorad/Delta, using six solid-propellaiit, strap-on Thiokol TX 354-5 Castor II motors. This was the first use of the "Super Six" Thor/Delta (DSV-3N-6) booster vehicle that employed the six Castor II motors, three of which ignited 30 seconds after lift-off. Generating nearly 600,000 pounds of thrust, the new launch vehicle could orbit a spacecraft weighing more than twice as much as the previous Tiros Operational Satellites. Improved TIROS Operational Satellite. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
Australis-OSCAR 5 was launched piggyback with ITOS-1 (TIROS-M weather satellite. Weight 17.7 kg (9 kg of which was battery mass). Box shaped 304 x 431 x 152 mm. 2 meter monopole and 10 meter dipole antennas. It was the first amateur satellite to be remotely controlled. Built by students at The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Battery powered, Australis-OSCAR 5 transmitted telemetry on both 2 meter (144.050 MHz at 50 mW) and 10 meter (29.450 MHz at 250 mW) bands that operated for 23 and 46 days respectively. Passive magnetic attitude stabilization was performed by carrying two bar magnets to align with the Earth's magnetic field in order to provide a favorable antenna footprint. The University of Melbourne compiled tracking reports from hundreds of stations in 27 countries.
The first Long Tank Thrust Augmented Thor/Delta to be launched from Vandenberg AFB using nine solid rocket motors successfully placed the Environmental Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS-A) in orbit. Earth Resources Technology Satellite. Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C).
AMSAT-OSCAR 6 was launched piggyback with ITOS-D (NOAA 2). AO-6 was the first phase 2 satellite (Phase II-A). Weight 16 kg. Box shaped 430 x 300 x 150 mm. Quarter-wave monopole antennas (144 and 435 MHz) and half-wave dipole antenna (29 MHz). Firsts: complex control system using discrete logic; satellite-to-satellite relay communication via AO-7; demonstrated doppler-location of ground station for search and rescue; demonstrated low-cost medical data relay from remote locations. Equipped with solar panels powering NiCd batteries, AO-6 provided 24 V at 3.5 W power to three transponders. It carried a Mode A transponder (100 kHz wide at 1 W) and provided store-and-forward morse and teletype messages (named Codestore) for later transmission. AO-6 lasted 4.5 years until a battery failure ceased operation on June 21, 1977. Subsystems were built in the United States, Australia, and Germany.
Environmental research. Primary experiments included a temperature-humidity infrared radiometer (THIR) for measuring day and night surface and cloudtop temperatures as well as the water vapor content of the upper atmosphere, electrically scanning microwave radiometer (ESMR) for mapping the microwave radiation from the earth's surface and atmosphere, infrared temperature profile radiometer (ITPR) for obtaining vertical profiles of temperature and moisture, Nimbus E microwave spectrometer (NEMS) for determining tropospheric temperature profiles, atmospheric water vapor abundances, and cloud liquid water contents, selective chopper radiometer (SCR) for observing the global temperature structure of the atmosphere, and a surface composition mapping radiometer (SCMR) for measuring the differences in the thermal emission characteristics of the earth's surface.
AMSAT-OSCAR 7 was launched piggyback with ITOS-G (NOAA 4) and the Spanish INTASAT. The second phase 2 satellite (Phase II-B). Weight 28.6 kg. Octahedrally shaped 360 mm high and 424 mm in diameter. Circularly polarized canted turnstile VHF/UHF antenna system and HF dipole. Firsts: Satellite-to-satellite relay communication via AO-6; Early demonstrations of low-budget medical data relay and doppler location of ground transmitters for search-and-rescue operations were done using this satellite. AO-7 was fully operational for 6.5 years until a battery failed in mid 1981. However the satellite was still functional in day-side passes when its ever-degrading solar cells could function, and was still responding to amateurs as of August 2006. Additional Details: here....
Geodynamics Experimental Ocean Satellite. The mission of GEOS 3 (Geodynamics Experimental Ocean Satellite) was to provide the stepping stone between the National Geodetic Satellite Program (NGSP) and the Earth and Ocean Physics Application Program. It provided data to refine the geodetic and geophysical results of the NGSP and served as a test for new systems. A major achievment was the flight of a radar altimeter. Further mission objectives: intercomparison of tracking systems, investigation of solid-earth dynamic phenomena through precision laser tracking, refinement of orbit determination techniques, determination of interdatum ties and gravity models, and support of the calibration and position determination of NASA Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (STDN) S-band tracking stations.
Environmental research. The experiments selected for Nimbus-6 were the earth radiation budget (ERB), electrically scanning microwave radiometer (ESMR), high-resolution infrared radiation sounder (HIRS), limb radiance inversion radiometer (LRIR), pressure modulated radiometer (PMR), scanning microwave spectrometer (SCAMS), temperature-humidity infrared radiometer (THIR), tracking and data relay experiment (T+DRE), and the tropical wind energy conversion and reference level experiment (TWERLE). This complement of advanced sensors was capable of mapping tropospheric temperature, water vapor abundance, and cloud water content; providing vertical profiles of temperature, ozone, and water vapor; transmitting real-time data to a geostationary spacecraft (ATS 6); and yielding data on the earth's radiation budget.
Eighth CERS/ESRO satellite, first European Space Agency satellite. Launch time 0147:59 GMT. Argument of perigee 344.7 deg. Also registered by the United States in A/AC.105/INF.331 as 1975-72A, category B satellite with orbit 2203.9 min, 442 x 99002 km x 9 0.3 deg.
LAGEOS (Laser Geodetic Satellite) was a very dense (high mass-to-area ratio) laser retroreflector satellite which provided a permanent reference point in a very stable orbit for such precision earth-dynamics measurements as crustal motions, regional strains, fault motions, polar motion and earth-rotation variations, solid earth tides, and other kinematic and dynamic parameters associated with earthquake assessment and alleviation. The performance in orbit of LAGEOS was limited only by degradation of the retroreflectors, so many decades of useful life can be expected. The high mass-to-area ratio and the precise, stable (attitude-independent) geometry of the spacecraft, together with the orbit, made this satellite the most precise position reference available. Because it is visible in all parts of the world and has an extended operation life in orbit, LAGEOS can serve as a fundamental standard for decades. Additional Details: here....
AMSAT-OSCAR 8 was launched piggyback with LandSat 3 (ERTS 3) and PIX. The third phase 2 satellite (Phase II-D). Weight 27.2 kg. Box shaped, 33 cm high, 38 x 38 cm. Circularly polarized VHF canted turnstile, UHF quarter wave monopole, and HF half-wave dipole antenna system. Another cooperative international effort (United States, Canada, Germany and Japan). AO-8 had a similar store-and-forward service as AO-7 and carried Mode A (145.850-900 MHz uplink and 29.400-500 MHz downlink) and Mode J (145.900-146.000 MHz uplink and 435.100 MHz downlink (inverted)) linear transponders and telemetry beacons on 435.095 MHz and 29.402 MHz. AO-8's primary mission was for educational applications and amateur communications. It was in operation for six years until the battery failed on June 24, 1983.
Environmental research. The experiments carried were a limb infrared monitoring of the stratosphere (LIMS), stratospheric and mesopheric sounder (SAMS), coastal-zone color scanner (CZCS), stratospheric aerosol measurement (SAM II), earth radiation budget (ERB), scanning multichannel microwave radiometer (SMMR), solar backscatter UV and total ozone mapping spectrometer (SBUV/TOMS), and temperature-humidity infrared radiometer (THIR). These sensors were capable of observing several parameters at and below the mesospheric levels. After 11 years in orbit, three experiments, SAM II, SBUV/TOMS, and ERB, were still functioning successfully.
University of Surrey research microsatellite. Radio science; also carried amateur radio package. Communication and geophysics research satellite. Launch time 1127 GMT. Also registered by the United States in ST/SG/SER.E/59, with category D and orbital parameters 95.3 min, 531 x 533 km x 97.5 deg. UoSAT-OSCAR 9 was launched piggyback with Solar Mesosphere Explorer satellite. Weight 52 kg. Box shaped 740 x 420 x 420 mm. Deployable gravity gradient boom. Firsts: First on-board computer (IHU - Integrated Housekeeping Unit) for battery and attitude management, remote control, and experiments. Built by the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, UO-9 was UoSAT's first experimental satellite. It was a scientific and educational low-Earth orbit satellite containing many experiments and beacons but no amateur transponders. UO-9 was fully operational until it re-entered October 13, 1989 from a decaying orbit after nine years of service.
X-ray experiments. Launch time 1518 UT. Launching agency ESA. EXOSAT is a space research satellite of the European Space Agency. The scientific objectives of the EXOSAT mission are to measure the position, structural features, spectral and temporal characteristics of cosmic X-ray sources in the energy range from less than 0.1 keV to greater than 50 keV.
University of Surrey experimental microsatellite. Built in only 6 months, UoSAT-2 carried the first modern digital store and forward (S&F) communications payload and a prototype CCD camera. Also performed magnetospheric studies. Launch time 1759 GMT. Still operational in 2000.
The vehicle entered a 175 km x 706 km x 98.2 deg initial orbit. 57 minutes after launch the Delta stage burned again to circularize the orbit at 668 km x 698 km and Landsat 7 separated from the stage. The Delta stage then burned to depletion of its propellant, into a 184 km x 710 km x 107.5 deg orbit that would decay quickly. The Landsat 7 remote sensing satellite was to be operated by NASA/Goddard until October 2000, when operations would be transferred to the US Geological Survey.
Imager for Magnetopause to Aurora Global Exploration was a MIDEX (mid-sized Explorer mission) developed by NASA-Goddard and the SWRI (Southwest Research Institute) of San Antonio, Texas. The spin-stabilised spacecraft carried a set of neutral atom and ultraviolet imagers, and antennae to study radio wavelength emissions from the magnetosphere plasma. The RPI radio plasma imager has four long wire antennae which will be deployed to a span of half a kilometre.
First use of a Delta dual payload attach fitting. The Earth Orbiter 1 satellite was part of NASA's New Millenium Program. Complementing the New Millenium's Deep Space series, EO-1 was a NASA-Goddard satellite which demonstrated technology for the next generation Landsat. It flew in formation with Landsat-7 for comparison purposes, using a hydrazine thruster to adjust its orbit. The satellite used a MIDEX-derived bus built by Swales Aerospace; dry mass was 566 kg. The main instruments were ALI (Advanced Land Imager) and the Hyperion 220-band imaging spectrometer. At 1835 GMT the Delta second stage completed its first burn and entered a 185 x 713 km x 98.2 deg transfer orbit. At 1920 GMT the orbit was circularised and EO-1 separated at 1925 GMT into a 682 x 729 km x 98.2 deg orbit.
The small 6 kg Munin nanosatellite was built by Swedish students in collaboration with the Swedish Insitute for Space Physics (IRF) and carried a particle detector, a spectrometer, and an auroral camera. After deployment of EO-1 and SAC-C a fourth burn put the Delta second stage in a 697 x 1800 km x 95.4 deg orbit, after which Munin was ejected from the stage.
The SAC-C Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas C was developed by the Argentine space agency CONAE and built by the Argentine company INVAP. The 467 kg satellite carried a battery of earth observing instruments for Argentine forestry and agriculture studies. SAC-C also carried a NASA experiment which used the distortion of GPS signals observed near the horizon to derive atmospheric conditions. The DPAF dual payload support structure, derived from Ariane's SPELDA, was ejected after deployment of the EO-1 satellite from the Delta stage to reveal SAC-C. After a further Delta burn SAC-C was ejected at 1955 GMT into a 687 x 707 km x 98.3 deg orbit.
The QuickBird commercial imaging satellite was owned by DigitalGlobe (formerly EarthWatch) and used a Ball BCP2000 bus with a launch mass of 1028 kg and a dry mass of about 995 kg. The Delta upper stage entered a 185 x 472 km x 98.1 deg orbit at 1902 GMT. At 1948 GMT it reached apogee and fired again to deploy QuickBird into a 461 x 465 km x 97.2 deg orbit. The Delta then made a series of unusual depletion burns, lowering its perigee to 167 km and changing inclination to 108.9 deg.
Quickbird 2 was to be operational after a few months of calibration and "ground-truth" checkouts to market high resolution images. The 1.0 tonne satellite was reported to be capable of images with a resolution as small as 0.6 meter, though the standard products were to be coarser. Unlike the comparable quality images from IKONOS images, some of which are currently marketed exclusively to the US military, all Quickbird 2 images may be available in the open market.
Oceanography satellite, launch delayed from August 10 and September 15. Jason 1 was a joint mission between CNES (the French space agency) and NASA/JPL, following on the Topex satellite which carried the Poseidon sea surface altimeter. Jason carried Poseidon 2, as well as orbital tracking experiments and a microwave radiometer which measured the amount of water vapor, allowing path delay errors to be calibrated. The satellite used the Alcatel Proteus bus and had a dry mass of 472 kg plus 28 kg of hydrazine propellant. The JASON/TIMED mission's Boeing Delta 7920-10C second stage reached an initial orbit of 215 x 1343 km x 66.2 deg at 1517 GMT. A second burn at 1559 GMT circularized at apogee to 1320 x 1330 km x 66.0 deg, and the Jason 1 satellite was ejected at 1602 GMT.
TIMED was the first NASA Solar Terrestrial Probe, operated by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab to study the thermosphere, mesosphere and lower ionosphere. TIMED was built in-house at APL and had a mass of 587 kg; the project was managed at NASA-Goddard. It measured solar and auroral energy input, atmospheric cooling rates, and atmospheric composition, temperature and wind profiles.
Five minutes after deploying the JASON satellite, the DPAF adapter atop the Delta upper stage separated to reveal the TIMED satellite inside it. Burn 3 at 1614 GMT put Delta/TIMED in a descending 636 x 1330 km x 71.3 deg orbit; at perigee at 1706 GMT a fourth burn circularized the orbit at 627 x 640 km x 74.1 deg and TIMED was ejected six minutes later. A final depletion burn left the Delta stage in a low perigee orbit.
Mobile Telephony satellite. Return to flight after GEM solid booster failure on GBI launch. Launch delayed from February 8, 9 and 10. Five Motorola Iridium satellites were launched for Iridium Satellite LLC, the new company that bought out the bankrupt Iridium LLC. This was the first system replenishment launch since the bankruptcy.
Climatology and environment satellite. Launch delayed from December 20, 2001, and January 30, April 18 and 26, May 2. NASA's Aqua remote sensing satellite was placed in a 185 x 707 km x 98.1 deg transfer orbit at 1006 UTC. A second burn of the second stage of the Delta at 1048:58 UTC put Aqua in a 676 x 687 km x 98.2 deg orbit.
Gravity Probe B's mission was to confirm a prediction of Einstein's theory of relativity. The physics experiment, developed by Stanford University and Lockheed Martin, was to observe the magnitude 5 star IM Pegasi for over a year, attempting to measure the tiny shifts in the spacecraft gyroscopes' orientation caused by the Lense-Thirring gravitomagnetic (or `frame-dragging') effect. To accomplish this the spacecraft carried four gyroscopes kept at 1.8 deg Kelvin by a liquid helium dewar, laser retroreflectors and two GPS receivers for orbit determination, a drag compensation system, and a 14 cm aperture quartz telescope. The satellite was also to make an accurate measurement of the already-established gravitostatic warping of spacetime due to the Earth's mass.
Classifed NRO mission of uncertain objectives, possibly military observation with a mixed payload. Later it was revealed the on-board propulsion system had completely failed, putting the satellite in a rapidly-decaying orbit. The Pentagon said that the hydrazine propellant aboard consituted a risk and announced they would shoot the satellite down. The real objective may have been to demonstrate US antisatellite capability after a Chinese test in 2007. In any case, on 21 February 2008 the satellite was down to a 242 km x 257 km orbit. At 03:26 GMT an SM-3 missile was fired from the Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie stationed west of Hawaii to intercept the satellite. The hit-to-kill warhead successfully rammed the satellite, breaking it up into 153 catalogued items of debris with perigees of 170-250 km and apogees of up to 2700 km.
Wide Field Infrared Explorer astronomy satellite, designed to conduct an all-sky survey at infrared frequencies of 3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 microns, detecting objects 100 times fainter than the earlier IRAS and Akari satellites. Primary instrument is a 40 cm telescope cooled to 12 K by a cryostat filled with solid hydrogen. The survey was expected to detect tens of thousands of new asteroids, brown dwarf stars, and planets orbiting nearby stars.
Argentinian 'Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-D' satellite. Carried NASA Aquarius L-band radiometer/scatterometer map sea salinity; a Ka-band microwave radiometer; a an infrared scanner to measure sea surface temperature; a high sensitivity camera to study light sources at night; and an Italian experiment which measured atmospheric deflection of GPS signals to determine air temperature and humidity.
NPP Preparatory Project weather satellite, using payloads from the cancelled National Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite System. The NPP provided a stopgap between the last of the Advanced TIROS-N polar weather satellites and the first Joint Polar Satellite System satellite to be launched in a few years.
The Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite, carried a 6-m L-band antenna for synthetic aperture radar and radiometry measurements to map microwave emissions from water molecules in the soil. Sun synchronous orbit; 0600 GMT local time of the descending node.