1968-059A
The OV1-15 satellite was also named SPADES, or Solar Perturbations Of Atmospheric Density Experiment Satellite. The satellite was spin-stabilized and used an accelerometer to study drag.
On this launch, for the first time, the spacecraft drifted down from Atlas apogee and were inserted into a low perigee orbit [197]. The TLEs indicates the two satellites were coincident in location at 160 km altitude around 1944 UTC, 14 min after launch which would be the normal apogee time for an OV1 launch. This is surprising as one would expect the 500-1000 km Atlas apogee to be at around that time, with the insertion delayed a further 10 minutes. A reasonable solution is a pre injection orbit of -2300 x 450 km with the OV1s burning at about 45 deg to the horizontal.
| OV1-15 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 Jul 11 | 1930 | Launch by Atlas F | V |
| 1932 | BECO | ||
| 1934 | SECO | ||
| 1934? | Fairing sep | ||
| 1935? | OV1-13, OV1-14 ejected | ||
| 1944? | OV1 burn at 160-170 km | ||
| 1946? | Atlas reentry | ||
| 1947? | OV1-15P sep | ||
| 104.8 154 x 1818 x 89.9 | |||
Payload:
- Microphone density gauge
- Mass spectrometer
- Particles
- Solar X and UV
- Ionospheric monitor
- MESA triaxial accelerometer
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