Tuesday, March 18, 1997

Leasat 3

 1985-028C


When Leasat 3 (Syncom IV F3) was deployed from Discovery on mission 51-D in Apr 1985, it failed to activate itself. A power switch on the side of the satellite was meant to be tripped as the satellite left the cargo bay and turn on the systems, but the satellite remained inert. Discovery completed a re-rendezvous with the satellite and attempted to trip the switch with a makeshift `flyswatter' attached to the end of the remote manipulator arm, but to no avail - an internal short circuit was to blame. With the satellite inert and trapped in a decaying low Earth orbit, a rescue mission was mounted. Shuttle flight 51-I flew to the satellite in August, and astronaut James Van Hoften grabbed it out of orbit. After repairs, he released it again and the satellite began to operate normally. Several months later, the perigee motor was successfully fired.


Syncom IV F3 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1985 Apr 13  1458:22  Deploy from OV103 
  Failed to activate 
   92.30 314 x 460 x 28.5 
1985 Apr 17  1400  Rendezvous Syncom 
 1412  RMS contact with Leasat 3 
  RMS tripped power switch, 
  still inactive 
 1418  Last RMS contact with Leasat 3 
 1801   92.31 315 x 459 x 28.5 
1985 Apr 27    92.29 315 x 458 x 28.5 
1985 Jul 6    92.22 314 x 452 x 28.5 
1985 Aug 28    92.18 313 x 449 x 28.5 
1985 Aug 31  1220  Leasat 3 rendezvous 
 1400  MS2 captures Leasat 
 1518  RMS grapple Leasat 
  Leasat repairs 
1985 Sep 1    92.17 313 x 448 x 28.5 
1985 Sep 1  1230?  Leasat repairs 
 1509  MS2 deploy Leasat 
1985 Oct 15    92.14 312 x 447 x 28.5 
1985 Oct 25    92.09 308 x 445 x 28.5 
1985 Oct 27  1153  Reported PKM burn time? (or EST) 
 1655  PKM burn based on TLE, over 150E 0N 
 1656 PKM cutoff  288.68 316 x 15864 x 27.0 
 2348? PKM jettison  
1985 Oct 28  0232  LAM Perigee burn 1  356.35 314 x 20228 x 26.9 
1985 Oct 28  2020?  LAM peri burn 2  480.54 314 x 27575 x 27.0 
1985 Oct 29  2020?  LAM peri burn  639.74 289 x 36142 x 26.9 
1985 Oct 30  0100? LAM apo burn 729.41 4800 x 36047 x 15.3 
1985 Oct 31  0200? LAM apo burn  1438.60 35604 x 36067 x 15.3 
1985 Nov 11    1435.90 35596 x 35968 x 3.2 GEO 174.9W 
1985 Nov   Leasat PAC  GEO 175W 
1986 Nov 30    1435.92 35781 x 35784 x 2.3 GEO 176.8W 
1986 Dec 10   mv out  1435.87 35780 x 35784 x 2.3 GEO 176.3W+0.05E 
1986 Dec 30    1426.52 35416 x 35777 x 2.2 GEO 130.2W+2.4E 
1987 Feb 12   mv in Leasat CONUS  35781 x 35789 x 2.1 GEO 104.9W 
1988 Dec 23    1436.09 35772 x 35800 x 0.8 GEO 105.6W 
1990 Feb 6    1436.12 35767 x 35806 x 1.0 GEO 104.7W 
1993 Sep 20    1436.08 35774 x 35798 x 3.9 GEO 105.9W 
1995 Mar 12    1436.11 35765 x 35808 x 4.9 GEO 104.9W 
1996 Sep 30    1436.07 35774 x 35797 x 5.9 GEO 104.9W 

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