Friday, July 4, 1997

Clementine

 1994-004A


Formally known as the Deep Space Program Science Experiment (DSPSE), the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's first space probe was known as Clementine. Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) provided sensors for this BMDO mission to expose advanced sensors to high radiation dosage; the probe was built by NRL and operated by NRL's Naval Center for Space Technology (NCST).

The probe had a dry mass of 183 kg, with 231 kg of propellant giving a mass of 414 kg after ISA separated. With the kick motor, the ISA and the launch adapter total launch mass was 1687 kg. Clementine was 1.1m in diameter and 1.8m high.

The initial attempt to fire the TTI (Transfer Trajectory Injection) burn on Feb 2 was unsuccessful due to a command error. Success came a day later, and the Star 37FM solid motor placed Clementine on the first leg of a stunted phasing loop trajectory. An engineering burn of the bipropellant engine was carried out to clear the fuel lines in preparation for a calibration burn, later cancelled because of delays in jettisoning the interstage just prior to first apogee. Two perigee burns of the engine were used to raise the apogee to lunar distance, and on Feb 19 the spacecraft executed the LOI-1 burn to enter lunar orbit. A second LOI burn to refine the orbit was aborted when telemetry incorrectly showed that the door protecting the delicate sensors was open; the LOI-2 burn was successfully carried out the following day and Clementine began its mapping of the Moon. A number of manuevers were made to ensure complete mapping coverage.

After its successful lunar mapping mission, Clementine departed lunar orbit on May 3. At perigee on May 7, a software failure caused all the attitude control propellant to be depleted. The original plan had called for Clementine to depart Earth orbit with a lunar flyby on May 27 and head off to fly past the minor planet (1620) Geographos on 1994 Aug 30, with a possible further flyby of (3221) Verenia on 1995 Oct 21. This plan was now impossible, and managers decided to try and keep Clementine in Earth orbit. The main propulsion fuel was unaffected by the failure, and it was realized that by using the sun sensor to tell the instant Clementine was pointing in the right direction as it spun on its axis once a second, and pulsing the engine at exactly those times, limited control of Clementine's orbit was possible. Two leading edge lunar swingbys could place Clementine in a 12000 x 240000 km orbit. On May 27 Clementine made its first lunar swingby, at a distance of 8900 km, and fell back toward perigee. The perigee burn on May 31 was only partially successful and a followup trim burn was also insufficient. Then, on June 4, the spacecraft started losing electrical power and its signal became too weak to track. On June 24 the probe passed by the Moon again (at a distance of around 10000-20000 km?) and finally on Jul 20 an 8200 km flyby sent the probe into heliocentric orbit. Contact was recovered briefly in May 1995.


Clementine 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1994 Jan 25  1634  Launch by Titan 2G  
1994 Jan 25  1636  Titan Stage 1 sep T+2:30 
 1637? Fairing sep
 1639? Titan stage 2 MECO 
 1639? Titan stage 2 sep  259 x 296 x 67 
1994 Jan 26  0000   251 x 287 x 66.96 
1994 Jan 29  0000   247 x 285 x 66.96 
1994 Feb 3  0000   244 x 285 x 66.96 
1994 Feb 3  0610  Spinup  250 x 290 x 66.97  
1994 Feb 3  0629  TTI burn, Star 37, 2960 m/s  51.2h 252 x 126728 x 66.42 
1994 Feb 3  1859   284 x 126962 x 66.48 
1994 Feb 3  1900  BPE engineering burn, 3.5 m/s  284 x 126962 x 66.48 
1994 Feb 4 0800?? ISA separation near apogee  292 x 126938 x 66.48  
1994 Feb 4  
Apogee 1   
1994 Feb 5  1000  Approach P1  289 x 126259 x 66.36 
1994 Feb 5  1001  P1 burn, 213 m/s  413 x 364015 x 66.36  
1994 Feb 6  0100  Pass EL1:4 
1994 Feb 6  0959  Approach P1C  437 x 367462 x 66.31 
1994 Feb 6  1000  P1C burn 31.9 m/s 437 x 367464 x 66.31 
1994 Feb 7   Titan stage 2 exploded 
1994 Feb 11  s  Apogee 2  385673 km? 
1994 Feb 15  1252   855 x 390389 x 63.04 
1994 Feb 15  1253  P2 burn, 7.4 m/s  856 x 385388 x 63.04 
1994 Feb 16  1259   843 x 410558 x 63.25 
1994 Feb 16  1300  P2C burn 1.4 m/s  860 x 409800 x 63.25 
1994 Feb 17  0959   793 x 410158 x 64.25 
1994 Feb 18  2040? Enter lunar sphere 
1994 Feb 19  1251  LOI approach  404 x Infinity x 89.5 
1994 Feb 19  1251.32  LOI-1 burn 460.3 m/s  
1994 Feb 19  1257.42  LOI-1 cutoff, lunar orbit  LO 401 x 5426 x 89.49  
1994 Feb 20  1241  LOI-2 burn 1.2 m/s  402 x 5388 x 89.33 from 402 x 5425 x 89.33 
1994 Feb 21  1216  LOI-2 burn, 2nd attempt, 103.5 m/s  397 x 2965 x 89.27 
1994 Feb 22  1217  LOI-2 trim, 5.3 m/s  382 x 2971 x 89.32 
1994 Mar 11  0600  Pre LOM 1  445 x 2909 x 89.78  
1994 Mar 11  0629  LOM 1 burn, 19 m/s 445 x 2909 x 89.78 
1994 Mar 26  0221  Apsidal Rot 1 burn, 106 m/s 
  Move periselene from 30S to 30N  447 x 2904 x 89.78 
 1241  Apsidal Rot 2 burn, 106 m/s  1008 x 3560 x 89.50 
1994 Mar 27  1830  Rotation trim, 3.8 m/s  448 x 2905 x 90.06  
1994 Apr 11  0629  LOM 2 burn, 8.7 m/s  428 x 2925 x 90.00 
1994 May 3  1300   369 x 2984 x 89.76 
1994 May 4  0324:15  LOD (Lunar Orbit Departure), 453.3 m/s   
1994 May 4  0330   24737 x Infinity x 107.9 
1994 May 5  0055  Depart lunar sphere
1994 May 7  1330   68424 x 452909 x 21.36 
1994 May 7  1345  Attitude control failure  68429 x 451989 x 21.34 
1994 May 8  0556 2P1 Perigee 68408 
1994 May 12  0154  Pre Test mv 1  66832 x 453021 x 21.35  
1994 May 12  0159  Test mv 1  66963 x 453381 x 21.30  
1994 May 13  0030  Pre Test mv 2  66116 x 453547 x 21.30 
1994 May 13  0034  Test mv 2  66057 x 451669 x 21.21  
1994 May 16  0530  2A1 Apogee 454929 km? 
1994 May 18  1300  Pre 2A2 burn  62600 x 451739 x 21.21 
1994 May 20  1300  Post 2A2 burn  57261 x 444300 x 21.12 
1994 May 24   2A2 Apogee  
1994 May 27   Lunar flyby 8900 km 
1994 May 31  2057 2A3 burn,  44768 x 388197 x 19.50  
1994 May 31   Trim burn 
1994 Jun 5   Contact lost 
1994 Jun 24   Lunar flyby 
1994 Jul 20   Lunar flyby 8200 km 
1994 Jul 21   Solar orbit  
1995 Feb 20   DSN contact 
1995 Mar 1   Solar orbit  1.02 x 1.06 AU x 0.07 
1995 Apr 10   Commanded DSPSE 
1995 May 4   Fuel dump burn 

Payload:

  • UV/Vis imager

  • HiRes camera (connected to LIDAR)

  • LWIR camera

  • NIR camera

  • Lidar for laser altimetry Nd YAG laser

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