Tuesday, December 29, 1970
Monday, December 28, 1970
Thursday, December 24, 1970
OFO
1970-094A
The Orbital Frog Otolith Satellite (OFO) was built by Aerojet General (El Monte) for NASA Ames to study the adaptation of the inner ear function of frogs to free fall. OFO was launched on 1970 Nov 9 at 0600 by Scout B from Wallops Island together with the RM satellite. Its orbit was 92.6 min, 304 x 518 km x 37.4 deg. OFO transmitted until Nov 15, and reentered on 1971 May 9. The experiment showed that the frog otolith function recovered in 3 days. OFO frog data were taken for 155 hours (6d 11h).
The project was originally intended to be an Apollo 2 experiment, and then to fly on Skylab, but delays and the need for a low acceleration enviroment needed forced a change to a free flying satellite. The OFO satellite contained the FOEP (Frog Otolith Experiment Package), developed by APL based on a propoasal by T. Gualtierotti of NASA-ARC (later of Milan). It contained two bullfrogs (Rana Catesbiana) completely submerged in water in a 0.5m high 0.5m dia centrifuge cylinder.
The satellite had a yo-yo despin system and four deployable booms for moment-of-inertia control.
Mass of OFO was 133 kg; an octagonal systems section is topped by a round-topped conical enclosure containing the FOEP. Size 0.76m dia 1.19m high with 2.0m booms giving a 4.8m span. OFO was based on the OV3 design.
Separation of OFO from RM/FW-4S happened 50s earlier than planned due to a malfunction of the vehicle timer, and the two probably bumped into each other, but no serious damage was done.
| OFO | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 Nov 9 | 0600:00 | Launch by Scout B S174C | WI LA3A |
| T+1:16 St 1 burnout | |||
| T+1:21 Stage 2 burn | |||
| T+2:03 Stage 2 burnout | |||
| T+2:17 Fairing sep | |||
| T+2:19 Stage 3 burn | |||
| T+2:54 Stage 3 burnout | |||
| Spinup | |||
| T+7:23 Stage 3 sep | |||
| T+7:28 Stage 4 FW-4S burn | |||
| 0608 | T+8:02 Stage 4 burnout | ||
| 0608 | T+8:02? OFO sep | 92.83 304 x 520 x 37.4 | |
| 0608 | T+8:53 Yoyo deploy from OFO | ||
| T+8:58 Deploy inertia booms | |||
| T+10m? Yo deploy from RM | |||
| T+12:48 Unlock centrifuge | |||
| 1970 Nov 15 | 1700? | end of frog data | |
| 1970 Dec 3 | 92.58 288 x 513 x 37.4 | ||
Tuesday, December 22, 1970
EGRS-5
1965-063B
EGRS 5 (Secor 5) was launched for the US Army Corp of Engineers and US Army Map Command. It was a secondary payload on the test launch of the Scout B from Wallops Island.
SECOR 5 was built by the US Army Engineer, Geodesy, Intel and Mapping Research and Development Agency, Ft Belvoir, VA, and Cubic Corp. The satellite, Type I S/N 2, was a 20-inch sphere similar to the NRL series. It was left at an excessive spin rate but was used until Mar 1966.
| EGRS 5 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 Aug 10 | 1754 | Launch by Scout | WI LA3 |
| T+1:17 St 2 burn | |||
| T+1:57 St 2 burnout | |||
| T+2:02 St 3 burn | |||
| T+2:35 St 3 burnout | |||
| 1806 | T+12:28 St 4 burn | ||
| 1807 | T+13:03 St 4 burnout | ||
| 1837 | T+43:02 St 4 sep from SECOR | ||
| 122.24 1140 x 2423 x 69.26 | |||
| 1966 Mar | end of ops | ||
Payload:
- Secor TR-27 transponder
- USN Doppler Beacon