CRRES

 1990-065A

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The Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite, CRRES, was a joint project between the US Air Force Geophysics Lab (AFGL) and NASA carried out under the Space Test Program as mission P86-1. The original plan was for a Shuttle launched craft which would spend several months in low orbit before moving to highly elliptical orbit. The mission was rescoped to an Atlas launch and the low orbit phase was dropped. Two chemical release canisters were offloaded to the Pegsat mission. The spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace.

CRRES was launched on 1990 Jul 25 by Atlas Centaur AC-69. The Centaur used RL10A-3-3A engines and the 14-foot payload fairing and a type B payload adapter. The chemical release phase of the mission lasted until Aug 1991. The NASA canisters were ejected and drifted 3 km away from CRRES before the chemical release wastriggered. After the chemical releases CRRES continued its radiation exposure and magnetospheric studies for a few months before the spacecraft's life was cut short by a power system failure.

CRRES
Date	Time	Event	Orbit
1990 Jul 25	1921	Launch by Atlas Centaur (5201/AC-69)	CC LC36B
	1923:35	Booster cutoff (BECO)
	1924	Centaur insulation panels sep
	1925	Fairing sep
	1925:27	Sustainer cutoff (SECO)
	1925	Atlas sep
	1925:50?	Centaur MES1
	1931	MECO1, parking orbit	152 x 607 x 18?
	1949	MES2
	1950:30	MECO2
	1952:30?	Centaur sep from CRRES	591.70 331 x 33605 x 18.11
1990 Jul 26		SPACERAD instruments on
1990 Jul 27			591.72 334 x 33604 x 18.15
1990 Jul 31		Astromast boom deployed with magnetometers
1990 Aug 6		Wire booms deployed
1990 Aug		Spindown from 15 to 2 rpm
1990 Aug 10			591.69 338 x 33598 x 18.16
1990 Aug 26	1035	SPACERAD operational
1990 Sep 10	0545	Release 1: G-13A canister, 12 lb Ba
		G-13B canister, 12 lb Sr
	0610:25	Canisters ignited over 17.5S 198.9E alt 517 km
1990 Sep 14	0847:10	Release 2: G-14A (12 lb Ba)
	0847:12	G-14B (4 lb Ca)
		Alt 593 km
1991 Jan 13	0217:03	Release 3: G-2 (small Ba) at 6180 km
1991 Jan 13	0705:00	Release 4: G-7A (large Li) at 33403 km
	0705:00	Release 4: G-7B (large Li) at 33403 km
1991 Jan 15	0411:00	Release 5: G-3 (small Ba) at 15053 km
1991 Jan 16	0625	Release 6: G-4 (small Ba) at 23977 km
1991 Jan 18	0520	Release 7: G-5A (large Li) at 33337 km
	0520	Release 7: G-5B (large Li) at 33337 km
1991 Jan 20	0530:00	Release 8: G-10A (Large Ba) at 33179 km
	0530:05	Release 8B: G-10B (Large Ba) at 33179 km
1991 Feb 12	0415	Release 9: G-6A (Large Li) 32249 km
	0415	Release 9B: G-6B (Large Li) 32249 km
1991 Feb 17	0330:00	Release 10: G-8A (Large Ba, 20 kg) 33353 km
	0332	G-8B Large Ba
1991 Jul 13	0835:25	Release 11: G-1 (Small Ba), 495 km
1991 Jul 19	0837:07	Release 12: G-9A (Large Ba); G-9B (Large Ba), 441 km
1991 Jul 22	0838:24	Release 13: G-11A (Small Ba), 411 km
1991 Jul 25	0837:11	Release 14: G-11B (Small Ba), 478 km
1991 Aug 12	0931:20	Release 15: G-12A (Small Ba), G-12B (Small Ba), 507 km
1991 Oct 12		end of ops

Payload:

• Chemical release canisters (NASA) 8 small Ba canisters, 3.3kg 16 large canisters, 9-12 kg Ba, Sr, Li

  • G-1 Small Ba, 3 kg (R11)

  • G-2 Small Ba (R3)

  • G-3 Small Ba (R5)

  • G-4 Small Ba (R6)

  • G-5A Large Li (R4)

  • G-5B Large Li (R4)

  • G-6A Large Li (R9)

  • G-6B Large Li (R9)

  • G-7A Large Li (R7)

  • G-7B Large Li (R7)

  • G-8A Large Ba (R10) 10 kg

  • G-8B Large Ba (R10) 10 kg

  • G-9A Large Ba (R12)

  • G-9B Large Ba (R12)

  • G-10A Large Ba (R8)

  • G-10B Large Ba (R8)

  • G-11A Small Ba, 3 kg (R13)

  • G-11B Small Ba, 3 kg (R14)

  • G-12A Small Ba, 3 kg (R15)

  • G-12B Small Ba, 3 kg (R15)

  • G-13A Large Ba, 5 kg (R1)

  • G-13B Large Sr, 5 kg (R1)

  • G-14A Large Ba, 5 kg (R2)

  • G-14B Large Ca, 2 kg (R2)

• AFAPL-801 High eff. solar panel; GaAs solar cell panel expt (AF Aero Prop. Lab)

• AFGL-701 SPACERAD Radiation effects on electronic components:

  • 701-1 Microelectronics experiment, (NRL/)

  • 701-1B Internal Discharge monitor, (AFWL/JPL/)

  • 701-2 Space radiation dosimeter (AFGL/)

  • 701-3 MOS dosimeter (NRL/)

  • 701-4 High energy electron spectrometer (AFGL/) e 1-10 MeV

  • 701-5 Medium energy electron spectrimeter (AERO/) e 30 keV-2 MeV

  • 701-5B Medium energy electron and proton spectrometers (AERO/MPI/) e 20-250 keV, p 40 keV-2 MeV

  • 701-6 Low energy plasma analyser (AFGL/) e 10-30 keV, p 40 keV to 2 MeV

  • 701-7A Range telescope (Aero/) (p 50-600 MeV)

  • 701-7B Proton switches (Aero/) (p 20-80 MeV)

  • 701-8/701-9 Proton telescope (AFGL/) (p 1-100 MeV)

  • 701-11A Magnetospheric ion comp. spec. (Aero/MPI/) Ions 30-300 keV/q

  • 701-11B LE Mag. ion comp. spec. (Aero/LASL/) Ions 40 eV-40 keV/q

  • 701-11C Heavy Ion Telescope (AERO/LASL/ ) Ions 100 keV-15 MeV/nuc

  • 701-13A Fluxgate magnetometer, 6m boom

  • 701-13B Search coil magnetometer (Iowa wave expt) (AFGL/Iowa/)

  • 701-14 Langmuir probe (AFGL/UCB) E field), 100m span wire antenna