Conference 7.286::space

93.0. "SYNCOM-3 Moved Into Higher Orbit" by PYRITE::WEAVER () Mon Oct 28 1985 12:00

Associated Press Mon 28-OCT-1985 01:47                       Syncom Satellite

   Satellite Repaired By Shuttle Astronauts Fired Toward High Orbit
                             By LEE SIEGEL
                           AP Science Writer
   LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two months after spacewalking astronauts
fixed it, ``hysterically happy'' Hughes Communications Co.
engineers rescued an orbiting $85 million Navy communications
satellite and fired it into a higher orbit with a remote-control
command from Earth.
   ``This is a moment of triumph. ... It went spectacularly well,''
said Albert Wheelon, president of the company's Space and
Communications Group.
   A cheer went up in the Hughes control room in suburban El
Segundo when the thrusters of the satellite, Syncom 3, responded to
the command and began moving.
   There were ``just a lot of hysterically happy people,'' said
Wheelon. ``It's a super day,'' he said.
   The success meant that Hughes wouldn't have to declare the $85
million satellite a loss.
   During the coming week, a Hughes ground station in Norfolk, Va.,
will order the satellite to gradually speed up and move to higher
altitudes until Friday, when it reaches a point 22,300 miles above
the Pacific Ocean.
   There it will remain in geosynchronous orbit, which means it
will orbit at the same speed as the Earth rotates, so it will stay
in the same position over the Pacific.
   Monthlong testing of the satellite's radios and other systems
begins on Friday. Hughes won't know until the end of November if
the satellite is working properly.
   If it does perform as planned, it will become the first
communications satellite restored to service by repairs made in
orbit by spacewalking astronauts.
   Syncom 3 had failed to turn itself on after it was deployed from
space shuttle Discovery on April 13. A flawed electrical circuit
was blamed. Discovery's astronauts unsuccessfully tried to activate
the satellite by using fly-swatter-like snares to move a
lever-switch.
   On another Discovery flight, launched Aug. 24, spacewalking
astronaut Bill Fisher and James ``Ox'' van Hoften captured Syncom 3
by hand and installed ``jump cables'' and electronic boxes to
bypass the failed electrical circuit, enabling ground engineers to
communicate with the satellite.
   Van Hoften then heaved the 7 1/2-ton satellite back into an orbit
independent of the shuttle's orbit, where it stayed until Sunday.
   Sunday's rocket firing sent the satellite to an altitude of
about 10,000 miles, Wheelon said.
   The rocket-firing order was relayed to a ground station in Guam,
which in turn relayed the signal to the satellite.
   Hughes officials had feared the rocket's solid fuel might crack
when the motor was turned on, making the satellite explode, but
that didn't happen.
   Syncom 3 is part of a fleet of four satellites to be used by the
Navy for global military communications. Syncom 1 and 2 currently
are in operation. Syncom 4, launched during Discovery's August
flight, was successfully fired into high orbit, but later
malfunctioned and is unusable. It is in an orbit too high for
repair by shuttle astronauts.
   A fifth Syncom satellite will be launched from a space shuttle
next September to complete the Navy communications network, Wheelon
said.

Associated Press Sat 30-NOV-1985 15:26                       Syncom Satellite

Syncom 3 Declared Fully Operational, Officially Handed Over to Navy
                           By GEORGE GARTIES
                        Associated Press Writer
   EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) - A communications satellite that was
``jump started'' by space shuttle astronauts after being written
off as an $85-million failure was certified Saturday as a complete,
though tardy, success.
   The U.S. Navy was given control of Syncom 3 after the satellite
passed a month of tests by engineers from the Navy and Hughes
Communications Inc., said Hughes President Steven D. Dorfman.
   ``We are meeting all our specifications,'' Dorfman said. ``Six
months later than originally intended, we are going into service.''
   The satellite, dead from the time it was deployed from the
shuttle Discovery on April 13, was the object of the most extensive
space repair mission ever accomplished.
   On a late-summer Discovery flight, astronauts Bill Fisher and
James van Hoften caught Syncom 3 by hand and dragged it into the
shuttle's cargo bay for repairs. They ``jump-started'' the
electronic controls by bypassing a failed circuit, enabling Hughes
ground crews to regain control.
   Van Hoften then launched the device on Sept. 1 by heaving it
manually into orbit from the shuttle's cargo bay.
   ``I would say that was one of the most exciting parts of the
space program, to see two astronauts maneuvering around and
repairing a 15,000-pound satellite,'' Dorfman said.
   Hughes ground controllers then took over the repair job, and
tilted the satellite to face the sun, which, with the help of a
thermal blanket installed by the astronauts, warmed the solid fuel.
   In a tense operation Oct. 27, Syncom 3's engines were ignited,
and worked as planned, despite fears the fuel might explode after
spending more than six months in the deep freeze of space.
   The rocket burn brought the satellite up to its proper orbit
22,300 miles above the Pacific Ocean, and a month of testing was
completed Saturday, Dorfman said.
   The $8.5 million rescue turns around a loss for Hughes and its
insurance carrier, which had considered Syncom 3 a total loss and
paid the company $85 million. Now, Dorfman said, the insurer will
get back $65 million by sharing revenues with Hughes over the
satellite's 10-year lifespan.
   The Navy will pay Hughes for the use of Syncom 3, which along
with other satellites in the series is used for ship-to-shore
communications, Dorfman said.
   He said Hughes had considered offers from the European space
agency to launch the company's next generation of satellites on its
Ariane rockets, but that the contract will go to the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration.
   ``We have been very satisfied with the shuttle program,'' he
said. ``The shuttle motto is, `We deliver,' and they did.''