Conference 7.286::space

    The Weather Channel plans to have coverage of the launch too starting
    at 5:00pm EST and continuing through liftoff.
    
    Glenn
    

    Thanks. I would not have thought of looking there although it make
    sense given who owns it (and you have to do something to pad the
    weather out for 24 hrs)
    
    gary (whose cable system choked on CNN this morning)

    The launch of GOES-H was scrubbed on 25-Feb due to strong upper
    level winds.  As of this writing, the launch has been scheduled
    for the same time window (18:05 - 18:38 EST) on 26-Feb.
    
    Glenn
    

    NPR news claimed that the launch was successful last night.  Was
    not clear whether it was all settled into Clarke orbit or what.
    I presume that even if it is in Clarke, it is still in the process
    of drifting toward its assigned position.
    
    Burns
    

    I _think_ I know, but I'm not sure, so -
    
    	Could someone explain to me, briefly, what a Clark orbit is?
    
    Ignorance is a disgusting state !
    
    Dwight
    

    	It is also known as geosynchronous orbit.  It is located 22,300
    miles above Earth's surface, and is an ideal location for
    communications satellites, as at that height satellites tend to
    orbit Earth once a day, staying in one spot over the globe, as the
    satellite matches the rotational velocity of Earth.
    
    	It was named Clarke Orbit due to SF author Arthur C. Clarke
    having proposed such a use for this orbit in 1945.
    
    	Larry
    

    Actually its a geostationary orbit, a special case of the
    geosynchronous orbit. It is as Larry described with the addition
    of the orbit being aligned with the equator so that it appears
    stationary from the point of view of a ground observer.
    
    If the orbit is inclined the satellite will appear to move around
    in the sky, tracing a figure-8 pattern when viewed from the ground.
    This would be geosynchronous but not geostationary.
    
    gary
    

    re .7 and .8:  It is as Larry + as Gary described + a circular orbit.
    An elliptical equatorial geosynchronous orbit would appear to trace
    a line over the course of a day (I think).
    
    Burns

        A Clarke orbit is the generic term, and is named after SF author
        Arthur C Clarke, who first proposed the idea. A geocentric orbit
        is a Clarke orbit about the earth. A lunacentric orbit would be a
        Clarke orbit around the moon, Jovicentric around Jupiter, etc. 
        
        Clarkes idea was that a satellite in the proper orbit would have
        an orbital period equal to the rotational period of the body it
        was orbiting, thus apear to stay over one spot below. For Earth,
        this is about 22.3K miles, giving a period of one day. 

Date: Thu, 31 Mar 1994 09:33:34 +0500 (EST)
From: Jim Brown <[email protected]>
To: Planetarian's Digest <[email protected]>
Subject: GOES-I WEATHER SATELLITE MATED TO ATLAS 1 ROCKET AT COMPLEX 36
Message-ID: <[email protected]>

3/30/94:  GOES-I WEATHER SATELLITE MATED TO ATLAS 1 ROCKET AT COMPLEX 36

George H. Diller                                March 30, 1994

KSC Release No. 39-94

     The GOES-I weather satellite, scheduled for launch next month,
reached a milestone toward that goal today when it was mated to an
Atlas 1 rocket at Launch Complex 36 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. 

     The spacecraft has been undergoing prelaunch checkout at the
Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville since it arrived
in Florida on Jan. 21.  This past weekend the spacecraft was encapsulated 
into the Atlas 1 payload fairing by General Dynamics launch vehicle 
personnel in preparation for the trip to the launch pad. 

     The spacecraft began the trip last night, arriving at Pad B on
Complex 36 this morning.  It was then hoisted atop the Atlas 1 rocket.
The mating activities were completed at 9:05 a.m. 

     The next major test, the Composite Electrical Readiness Test, is
on Friday, April 1.  This test is an integrated simulation of the final 
minutes of the launch countdown and the powered in-flight sequence. 

     Launch of GOES-I aboard the AC-73 Atlas 1 rocket is scheduled for
April 12 at the opening of a launch window which extends from 2 a.m.
to 3:22 a.m.  EDT. 

     After on-orbit checkout by NASA, the spacecraft will be turned
over to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
which owns and will operate GOES-I. The spacecraft is planned to
become the new GOES-East satellite and will be called GOES-8 once in
orbit.  GOES-J is currently planned for launch in April 1995 and will
become the new GOES-West satellite, or GOES-9. 

     NASA is responsible for the design, development and launch of the
GOES-I through GOES-M series of spacecraft which are built by Space
Systems/LORAL of Palo Alto, Calif. 

      Launch vehicle management is by the Lewis Research Center in
Cleveland, Oh., which is responsible for administering the NASA
contract with General Dynamics Commercial Launch Services, San Diego,
Calif. The Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for
government oversight of launch vehicle preparations and countdown
activities.  The NASA launch manager at KSC provides the General
Dynamics launch director with the government "go for launch." 

Article: 9525
From: [email protected] (Dennis Chesters)
Newsgroups: sci.geo.meteorology
Subject: GOES-I STATUS (26 APRIL)
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 13:04:54 -0400
Organization: NASA Goddard Lab for Atmospheres, Greenbelt, MD
 
GOES-I STATUS (26 April)
 
The spacecraft is fine, and remains locked on the sun with all systems
operating as expected.  The fifth apogee manuever was successfully
completed yesterday.  We are now nearly in circular orbit, proceeding
cautiously through harmless glitches, the most interesting ones
involve the sun-lock attitude control system.  In NASA jargon,
glitches are called "single event upsets" (SEUs).  A SEU is usually
due to a cosmic ray or to accumulated static electricity zapping a
digital logic circuit.  Perigee is now up out of the Van Allen belts
where SEUs are most common.  The spacecraft needs to accumulate about
90 minutes of thrust at apogee to circularize the orbit, in steps
every few orbits.  The most important remaining deployment event is
the solar array, required to power the gyros and instruments. 
 
EVENT                                DATE      TIME-EDT   STATUS
 Launch (2 hours)
   lift-off                        Wed   4/13   2:04 am     OK
   deploy outer solar panel        Wed   4/13   3:20 am     OK
 Circularize Orbit (originally 8 days, total)
   apogee maneuver,  8 min burn    Thurs 4/14   10:42 pm  false alarm
   apogee maneuver, 15 min burn    Mon   4/18    6:00 pm    OK
   apogee maneuver, 20 min burn    Thurs 4/21    3:39 pm    OK
   apogee maneuver, 42 min burn    Sat   4/23    1:31 pm    OK
   apogee maneuver,  5 min burn    Mon   4/25    2:11 pm    OK
************************************** YOU ARE HERE ********************
   perigee maneuver, 4 min burn    Wed   4/27    8:26 am
                          GOES-I will be renamed GOES-8 near 90W
 Deploy Peripherals (5 days, total)
   turn on MDL data link           Wed   4/27    9:16 am
   deploy magnetometer boom        Thurs 4/28    5:05 pm
   deploy entire solar array       Thurs 4/28    8:00 pm
   magnetic dipole test            Fri   4/29   12:26 pm
   first wheel spin-up (L-mode)    Sat   4/30    7:34 pm
   deploy "solar sail"             Sat   4/30    8:17 pm
   turn Imager on (contam. avoid.) Sat   4/30    9:55 pm
   turn Sounder on                 Sun   4/30    7:08 am
   second wheel spin-up (V-mode)   Sun   4/30    8:34 pm
   trim tab startup                Mon   5/02    7:00 pm
                                      GOES-8 will be on-station
 Post-launch engineering tests (45 days, total)
   hardware turn-ons and tests..............May 2-6
   GVAR broadcasts tests....................May 7-8
   first visible image             Mon   5/09     TBD
   first infrared image            Wed   5/31     TBD
   first Sounder data              Mon   6/06     TBD
 
There are 299 post-launch checkout tests scheduled, with 41 started and 12
completed.
 
The first official GOES visible image is scheduled for release on May 9th.
 
In October 1994, after completion of 6 months of on-orbit tune-up, GOES-8
will replace METEOSAT-3 at 75W.
 
_________________________________________________________________________
UP_TO_DATE INFORMATION, USING INTERNET:
anonymous ftp://climate.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/chesters/goes  
news:sci.geo.meteorology  
Mosaic http://climate.gsfc.nasa.gov/~chesters/Home.html
 
_________________________________________________________________________
Dennis Chesters, GOES Project Scientist -- [email protected]