Conference 7.286::space

    The launch was successful. The satellite was renamed from NOAA-G
    to NOAA-10 upon verifiaction of correct orbit. Satellites get letters
    up until launch and are assigned the next number when they reach
    the correct orbit or trajectory. Avoids any embarrassing gaps in
    the sequence.
    
    The vehicle was an Atlas E, which means it was a refurbished ICBM.
    
    CNN covered the launch live and had some real nice footage of liftoff
    and BECO (love that Atlas jargon).
    
    gary

Associated Press Wed 17-SEP-1986 21:44                      Weather Satellite

                             By LEE SIEGEL
                           AP Science Writer
   VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - A $37.3 million weather
satellite whose launch had been delayed 16 times soared into orbit
atop a rebuilt 25-year-old rocket Wednesday, the second successful
launch in two weeks for the nation's troubled space program.
   A crowd of 120 Air Force and NASA officials and contractors
cheered as the 94-foot-tall Atlas E rocket blasted off at 8:52 a.m.,
from Space Launch Complex-3, carrying the RCA-built NOAA-G satellite
into a 518-mile-high polar orbit.
   ``We have liftoff,'' the flight commentator said as the rocket,
spewing bright orange flames into a thick cloud cover, vanished into
the clouds above the base 140 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
   Placement in orbit was announced at 10:07 a.m.
   Shortly before 11 a.m. signals sent by the satellite to a station
                                                            More -->
Associated Press Wed 17-SEP-1986 21:44             Weather Satellite (cont'd)

near Fairbanks, Alaska, indicated that all antennas and booms on the
satellite had deployed properly, said Jerry Longanecker, weather
satellite project manager for NASA.
   ``It looks 100 percent successful,'' he said.
   Five hours after launch, the satellite transmitted its first test
photograph back to Earth. It was a view of Alaska taken from the
west, where the sun was relatively low in the sky, providing poor
lighting, said Richard O'Neill, of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration.
   ``There wasn't much to see,'' he said by telephone from NOAA's
Satellite Operations Control Center in Suitland, Md.
   The satellite will be almost fully operational in three weeks to
a month, said Larry Heacock, satellite operations manager for the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
   Asked what the launch did for morale in the space program,
Heacock said, ``It's done wonders.''
   ``I have goose bumps, just like everyone else,'' said Julie
Andrews, spokeswoman for General Dynamics, which built the booster
in 1961 as an intercontinental ballistic missile and refurbished it
to launch the satellite.
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Associated Press Wed 17-SEP-1986 21:44             Weather Satellite (cont'd)

   ``Obviously, we're very delighted. Atlas played a significant
role in getting NOAA-G in orbit. We at General Dynamics consider it
a boost for America,'' said Jack Isabel, spokesman for General
Dynamics in San Diego.
   In the first few minutes after launch, the nose cone covering the
satellite and the five engines on the booster all separated from the
spacecraft on schedule.
   Upon attaining orbit, NOAA-G was automatically renamed NOAA-10.
It replaces the NOAA-6, launched in 1979, and joins NOAA-9 launched
into polar orbit in December 1984.
   From its vantage point above Earth, the 14-by-6-foot NOAA-10 will
photograph and collect global weather information, measure Earth's
radiation belts, relay data from weather stations worldwide to a
central processing center, measure how much sunlight Earth absorbs
and radiates back into space and detect distress signals from ships,
planes and travelers in remote areas.
   It will also provide some reconnaissance photographs to U.S.
intelligence agencies, said Heacock.
   ``It's another step on the way back'' from a Jan. 28 explosion
that destroyed the shuttle Challenger and killed its seven crew
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ssociated Press Wed 17-SEP-1986 21:44             Weather Satellite (cont'd)

members, said National Aeronautics and Space Administration
spokesman Jim Kukowski. ``Any successful launch is significant in
showing the American public that we are coming back from a very
disastrous eight months.''
   On Sept. 5, a Florida-launched Delta rocket carried two
satellites into orbit, where they destroyed each other in a
successful test of the so-called Star Wars space-based anti-missile
defense system.
   Wednesday's launch was ``important because of the problems the
NASA launch capability has experienced'' since the shuttle
Challenger exploded after liftoff Jan. 28, killing seven crew
members, said Longanecker.
   Starting an hour before launch, engineers loaded 18,294 gallons
of liquid oxygen fuel into the Atlas booster. On Monday, they had
loaded 11,384 gallons of super-refined kerosene. Longanecker said
the initial countdown began at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
   The launch of NOAA-G had been delayed 16 times since it first was
scheduled for August or September 1985.
   Some of the recent delays were caused by two leaks of liquid
oxygen fuel that NASA officials said could have made the booster
                                                            More -->
Associated Press Wed 17-SEP-1986 21:44             Weather Satellite (cont'd)

explode in flight. Officials said last week that both leaks were
repaired.
   Chuck Harter, a General Dynamics official, said the Atlas E, a
``so-called leftover missile,'' was one of 84 refurbished for launch
attempts. Eight of the previous 83 attempts failed, the last at
Vandenberg in December 1981, Harter said.
   Before the NOAA-G launch attempt, three of the last five major
U.S. space launch attempts failed: the Jan. 28 Challenger explosion
that killed seven crew members, the April 18 blowup of a Titan
rocket launched from Vandenberg and the May 3 destruction of a Delta
rocket carrying another weather satellite from Florida.
   Successes included a Feb. 9 launch at Vandenberg of a classified
Defense Department payload aboard an Atlas booster and the Sept. 5
Star Wars launch.
   The 7-year-old NOAA-6, which the new satellite is replacing, has
a broken temperature sensor and a faulty camera. It also lacks
search-and-rescue capability.
   Meanwhile, the Air Force announced that an MX Peacekeeper missile
will be launched from Vandenberg at 5:30 a.m. Thursday, flying 4,200
miles down the Pacific Missile Test Range to Kwajalein Atoll. It's
                                                            More -->
Associated Press Wed 17-SEP-1986 21:44             Weather Satellite (cont'd)

the 14th in a series of 20 test-launches for the multiwarhead
missile.
    

    Just out of curiousity, I'm wondering about the statement that "five
    booster engines jettisoned".  My recollection is that the Atlas
    booster has 3 main engines, a sustainer and two boosters, as well
    as two "vernier" engines on the side.  All five engines ignite at
    more or less the same time, and then after a while, the boosters
    fall off and the sustainer and verniers continue.  Are there other
    engines that stage on the Atlas?
    
    Burns
    

Re: -1

I believe you are right.  The Atlas has five engines only if you include 
the two Verniers.  The two booster engines aree carried in a half-stage, or 
skirt, mounted to the base of the booster.  The half-stage has no fuel or 
oxidizer tanks of its own; it feeds off the main tanks, as does the single 
sustainer engine.

The Verniers are used to make fine adjustments in the orbit of the payload 
before the booster and payload separate.  

 re .4:  The verniers fire right from the start.  I was always under
    the impression that they were used to [help] steer the beast either
    in place of or in addition to main engine gimballing.  I don't know
    when they shut down.  We might both be right.
    
    Burns

    Yes, you're right.  Just think of the Mercury launch photos we
    have all seen with the Atlas on the pad and the Verniers firing
    away.  I do think they are the last to shut down, though.

        According to my sourcebook (The Rocket by David Baker), the
        original design did call for a 5 engine cluster, but due to
        smaller nukes, the actual vehicla was reduced in size to three
        engines. Rather than stage, the engines are more of a master -
        slave relationship. All three engines ignite on the pad, with the
        two "booster" engines shutting down at 145 seconds, and are
        jetisoned. The sustainer continues to burn for an additional
        125 seconds.
        
        In addition to these three, there are two small vernier motors
        for roll control. But only the three motors provide upward
        thrust for the vehicle. These two spit the flame you see at
        the base.

    It was not uncommon for the verniers to be counted when talking
    about the Atlas. They do operate after main engine cutoff when the
    Atlas is flown as a missile, for final velocity adjustment. I don't
    know if they were/are used in this fashion when launching satellites.
    
    The verniers have their own auxilliary propellant tanks in case
    the main engines exhaust the primary tanks.
    
    If you want a Mercury Atlas launch in slow motion you will see the
    visible vernier gimbal hard to one side as the Atlas moves sideways
    to clear the launch tower. I suspect they both do the same thing,
    i.e. they are used for more than roll control during boost.
    
    The press probably just got the number of engines wrong.
    
    gary

    NOAA-10 works, it was on this weekend on 137.5MHz and was sending
    very good wx fax (APT) picuters, this signal is stronger then the
    older NOAA-6/7/8/9 but not as strong as the CCCP METOR WX birds.
    
    The quality of the Cloud pictures was = or better then NOAA-9
    finally a successful rocket launch and satellite too, should
    make the people as NASA happy
    
    I am not 100 percent sure on this one but I think the boaster
    rocker on the orignal Oscar-10 then went into the ocean with
    the Airian rocket was one of the Atlas small stearing rockets
    that was donated to AMSAT, that was one of the problems when
    they had to build a replacement as it was one of a kind spare.
    
    john
    

From: [email protected] (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: NOAA-D environmental satellite launched (Forwarded)
Date: 15 May 91 00:07:59 GMT
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
 
Walt Dundon                                              May 14, 1991
Kennedy Space Center Resident Office
Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
(Phone:  805/865-3841)
 
Jim Elliott
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone:  301/286-6256)
 
Brian Dunbar
Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone:  202/453-1547)
 
N91-36
 
NOTE TO EDITORS: NOAA-D ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE LAUNCHED
 
	The NOAA-D environmental satellite was launched by NASA today
from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
 
	Lofted on an Atlas E expendable launch vehicle into a clear
morning sky at 11:52:00 a.m. EDT, the spacecraft was placed into a
450-nautical-mile near-polar orbit.
 
	The satellite, to be redesignated NOAA-12 when operational, is
one of a series of satellites designed to give scientists the most
comprehensive meteorological and environmental information since 
the start of the nation's space program.  The sun-synchronous polar
orbit allows the satellite to view the Earth's entire surface and
cloud cover each 12 hours.
 
	The new satellite joins NOAA-10 and NOAA-11 in collectioning
meteorological and environmental data bnd will eventually replace
NOAA-10, launched in September 1986 and now nearing the end of its useful 
life.

Article         1288
From: [email protected] (VALERIE KUKLENSKI)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.space,clari.tw.telecom,clari.tw.environment
Subject: Satellite may answer drought questions
Date: 10 May 91 22:52:49 GMT 
 
	LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- A satellite set to be launched next week
may allow scientists to better predict floods and heighten their
understanding of the causes of persisent droughts in the Western
United States and Africa, researchers said Friday. 

	The NOAA-D spacecraft, developed by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, is slated for launch next Tuesday from Vandenberg Air
Force Base, 150 miles north of Los Angeles. 

	Once in orbit, the satellite will begin to measure
temperatures on Earth's surface, including oceans and the planet's
atmosphere. It also will gather data on the amount of solar radiation
penetrating Earth's atmosphere as a result of the erosion of the ozone
layer. 

	J. Michael Hall, director of NOAA's Office of Global Programs,
said the data gathered by the satellite in the next few years, coupled
with observations of earlier satellites, may help scientists better
understand the causes of droughts. 

	``Can the regional drought in California be something related
to events that are several, even hundreds, of years in the making, or
is it a temporary phenomenon?'' he said. 

	The satellite's observations of ocean temperartures and
currents also are expected to improve climatologists' ability to
forecast what is known as El Nino, the tropical currents in the
Pacific that affect evaporation and precipitation around the Pacific
Rim, triggering devastating floods in some areas while leaving others
drought-stricken. 

	W. Stanley Wilson, a NASA program scientist on the project,
said previous satellites have provided only fragmented information
taken at different times and under a variety of conditions. 

	But the new $50 million satellite will provide research data
on several climate factors simultaneously. 

	``Now what we're looking for simply is an opportunity ... over
a long time period, in this case 15 years, to have a mutually
consistent set of observations ... to address those basic questions of
how are we going to adapt to how things change,'' Wilson said. 

	He said the scientific community has divergent opinions on the
extent and rate of global warming, and whether the satellite can lead
to closer agreement is uncertain. 

	Hall said, ``I thing that the average citizen should be aware
that we're facing a climatologically more uncertain future than we've
faced before, in part because of human intervention.'' 

	But while pollution and the destruction of tropical rain
forests, among other factors, may be an important cause of climate
changes, Hall said human intervention is much less likely to bring a
solution. 

	The data collected by the satellite are more likely to trigger
economic and social reactions, he said. 

	``Having predicted climate information raises a whole host of
problems,'' Hall said. ``We are inviting, in effect, people to
literally bet the farm on that information. We won't always be right.'' 

	He said decisions made from this information must be based on
``acceptible risks.'' NOAA plans to add economists to its satellite
research team next year. 

Beth Schmid
Headquarters, Washington, DC         November 15, 1994
(Phone:  202/358-1760)
 
Jim Elliott
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
(Phone:  301/286-6256)
 
Pat Viets
NOAA NESDIS
(Phone:  301/763-2560)
 
 
RELEASE:  94 -189
 
 
DECEMBER 4 LAUNCH PLANNED FOR NOAA-J
 
     A new satellite that will provide near continuous health
checks of planet Earth will be launched in early December.
 
     NOAA-J, a joint project of NASA, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Air Force, is
scheduled for launch at 2:02 a.m. PST on December 4, 1994.
 
    The launch will be from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, aboard
an Atlas-E during a 10-minute window.  The 3,775-pound (1,712-kg)
spacecraft will be launched into a 541-mile (870-km) orbit with
an inclination to the equator of 98.86 degrees.
 
     From this vantage point, the new satellite will circle the
Earth every 102 minutes, passing over the North and South Poles
on each orbit of the planet.  Like other NOAA satellites, NOAA-J
will collect meteorological data and transmit the information
directly to users around the world to enhance local weather
analysis and forecasting.  In addition, the satellite data are
used for hurricane tracking and warning and for agricultural,
commercial fishing, forestry, maritime and other industrial uses.
 
     The satellite, to be known as NOAA-14 in orbit, will carry
seven scientific instruments and two for Search and Rescue (SAR).
 
     The scientific instruments include the Advanced Very High
Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR); the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet
Spectral Radiometer Mod 2 (SBUV/2); a suite of three sounding
instruments consisting of the Stratospheric Sounding Unit (SSU),
the High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS/2I), and the
Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU); and the Space Environment Monitor
(SEM) and Data Collection System (DCS).
 
     The AVHRR, built by ITT, is a scanning radiometer used for
remotely determining cloud cover and surface temperature.  The
SBUV/2, built by Ball Aerospace, is a spectrally-scanning
radiometer for measuring solar irradiance and backscattered solar
energy.
 
      The SSU, built by Matra Marconi in Great Britain, will make
temperature measurements in the upper atmosphere.  The HIRS/2I,
built by ITT, detects and measures energy emitted by the
atmosphere to construct  vertical temperature profiles from the
Earth's surface to an altitude of 25 miles (40 km).  The MSU,
built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, detects
and measures microwave energy (allowing it to see through clouds
to the Earth's surface) from the troposphere to construct
atmospheric vertical profiles to an altitude of 12 miles (20 km).
 
 
     The SEM is a multichannel, charged-particle spectrometer
that measures the population of the Earth's radiation belts and
the particle precipitation phenomena resulting from solar
activity.  The SEM was built by LORAL (Ford-Philco)/NOAA Space
Environment Laboratory.
 
    The DCS, built by Serge Desault of France, collects relevant
data from buoys, free-floating balloons and remote weather
stations and retransmits the information to ground stations.  The
ground stations send it to a Centre National d'Etude Spatials
(the French space agency, CNES) central processing facility in
France where processing is completed.  From there, it is
distributed to users and is stored on magnetic tape for archival
purposes.
 
     The SAR equipment is part of an international search and
rescue program known as COSPAS/SARSAT.  Primary participants in
the humanitarian program are Canada, France, Russia and the
United States.  In operation since September 1982, the program is
responsible for having saved more than 3,900 lives.
 
     The SAR instruments onboard are the Search and Rescue
Repeater (SARR), built in Canada by SPAR, and the Search and
Rescue Processor with Memory, built in France by Serge Desault.
 
     NOAA-J will join four other NOAA satellites in polar orbit.
They are NOAA-9, launched in December 1984; NOAA-10, launched in
September 1986; NOAA-11, launched in September 1988, and NOAA-12,
launched in May 1991.
 
     NOAA-11 is the primary operational afternoon satellite, and
NOAA-12 is the primary operational morning satellite.  NOAA-J is
scheduled to replace NOAA-11 as the primary afternoon  satellite.
 
     NOAA-13, launched in  August 1993, suffered a power failure
12 days after launch, and all attempts to command the spacecraft
have been unsuccessful.
 
     The NOAA-J spacecraft was built by Martin Marietta/Astro
Space, Princeton, NJ.  NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt MD, is responsible for the construction, integration
and launch of the satellite.  Operational control of the
spacecraft moves to NOAA after it is checked out on orbit.
 
     The Atlas-E launch vehicle was built by General Dynamics
(recently acquired by Martin Marietta).  The U.S. Air Force
manages the Atlas-E program and the Vandenberg Air Force Base
support efforts.

>spacecraft will be launched into a 541-mile (870-km) orbit with
>an inclination to the equator of 98.86 degrees.

Could someone familiar with orbital terminology please explain how
one can have an orbit >90 degrees to the equator?

Or is this just a typo: 88.86 degrees?


- dave

RE: <<< Note 215.13 by PRAGMA::GRIFFIN "Dave Griffin" >>>

I've seen 98 degree inclinations listed before. I assumed that this means the
orbital plane is tilded up 98 degrees from the East, so to speak (i.e., a
98 degree left turn following a conventional due-East launch), so that the
orbital track passes to the "left" of the north pole on the ascending pass.
						-- Tom

I think we are saying the same thing, but my understanding is that it is
"retrograde", i.e. the projection of the spacecraft on a plane through the
equator goes around the earth in the opposite direction from the way the earth
rotates.

If I am right, then, a retrograde equatorial orbit would be 180�.

Burns

    RE: -1 -2 & -3    Yes, the way it is interpreted is if one looks
    at the 2-line orbital elements for say the COBE satellite, one will
    see that it has an inclination of 98.96�. This satellite tracks
    south - north on ascending passages with a tilt westwardly from the
    equator of 98.96�. NOAA and other satellites like LANDSAT also have
    similar inclinations such that like in the instance of LANDSAT that
    they will predictably track over the same surface point on a regular
    basis at the same time.
    
    Bob

                                                                 (i.e., a
    98 degree left turn following a conventional due-East launch)
    
    
    Oh and BTW, there's no way a launch is going to make a "left turn"
    during the ascent phase. :-) You'd need a humungous rocket motor
    to defeat the law's of physics.
    
    Bob
    

RE: <<< Note 215.17 by NETCAD::BATTERSBY >>>

The "left turn" I was thinking of is a maneuver like the roll program done by
the Shuttle and Saturn V. Not really so much a heading change as an initial
alignment rotation.
						-- Tom

     RE: -1      Oh..ok, you sure had me fooled. :-)
    
    Bob