1982-006A
This satellite was a standard GAMBIT but used for an area survey mission instead of close-look on point targets. The Dual-Mode modifications included increasing retro impulse by 20 percent and improved main propulsion system restart capability. The payload adapter joint was modified so that it could survive a restart of the main engine.
The photo mission lasted 119 days. The mission report says that the high mode portion lasted 97 days and the low mode was 23 days.
After the first day, 1982-06A circularized its orbit at 600 km. Successive orbital adjustments raised the orbit to 624 x 657 km by Mar 10. One object left in the initial orbit is listed as a rocket body in the Satellite Catalog, but this seems unlikely - it is probably the viewport hatch. It reentered on the second day.
On Mar 20, the first SRV recovery was commanded, but the SRV failed to separate. The SRV was then commanded to separate from its heat shield and thrust cone, to get it off the Agena. Three new objects were cataloged in orbit around Mar 21, presumably two of these are the bucket and the heat shield; the third may be the thrust cone if it had then separated from the Agena, or the parachute system.
On around Apr 28, the spacecraft was moved to a low orbit. However, archived TLEs show the 1982-06A object moving to a higher 633 x 644 km orbit and steadily decaying - this is rather surprising and appears to be deliberate misinformation, or possibly tracking confusion with the SRV debris. A fourth object cataloged in April is probably the fairing separating SRV-1 from SRV-2. To ensure its recovery despite its faulty motor, on May 23 the second SRV was deorbited with the entire spacecraft, using the Agena's propulsion.
It was originally intended to use the main propulsion system for the deorbit burn. The prop isolation valves were opened on rev 1792, but this caused attitude contrl problems and the valves were closed on rev 1794. It took some time to recover control of the vehicle, and three days later the ISPS secondary propulsion system was used for the deorbit on rev 1845. The impact point was recorded as 11.91N, 188.09E.
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| GAMBIT 4352 |
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| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
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| 1982 Jan 21 | 1930:01 | Launch by Titan 34B Agena D | V SLC4W |
| | 1932? | Titan stage 1 sep |
| | 1935? | Titan stage 2 sep |
| | 1935? | Agena burn |
| | 1940? | Agena D cutoff | 91.40 146 x 537 x 97.4 |
| | | | 91.3 147 x 543 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| | | Fairing separated (82-06B, decayed in 11h) |
| 1982 Jan 22 | 0510? | OA-1 Rev 6 | 91.82 179 x 552 x 97.3 |
| 1982 Jan 22 | | Agena D burn 2 | 91.83 176 x 550 x 97.3 (TLE) |
| | 0930? | OA-2 Rev 9 | 92.73 269 x 553 x 97.3 |
| | 1300? | OA-3 Rev 12 | 94.67 455 x 566 x 97.3 |
| | 1630? | OA-4 Rev 15 | 96.73 561 x 648 x 97.3 |
| 1982 Jan 22 | | | 96.79 561 x 646 x 97.3 (TLE) |
| 1982 Jan 23 | | | 96.74 555 x 647 x 97.2 |
| 1982 Jan 29 | | | 96.74 555 x 647 x 97.2 |
| 1982 Jan 29 | 2130? | OA-5 Rev 121 | 97.03 583 x 647 x 97.3 |
| | | | 97.02 601 x 649 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| 1982 Feb 5 | 2000? | OA-6 Rev 224 | 97.10 618 x 656 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| | | Orbit adjust | 97.13 592x647 |
| 1982 Feb 12 | 2100? | OA-7 Rev 329 | 97.20 626 x 656 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| | | | 97.14 600 x 643 x 97.3 (TLE) |
| 1982 Feb 19 | 2350? | OA-8 Rev 434 Orbit adjust | 97.30 607x647x97.0 (TLE) |
| | | | 97.28 628 x 648 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| 1982 Feb 24 | 0800? | OA-9 Rev 498 Orbit adjust | 97.39 608x656x97.0 (TLE) |
| | | | 97.37 620 x 655 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| 1982 Mar 2 | 2100? | OA-10 Rev 595 Orbit adjust | 97.47 619 x 656 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| | | | 97.48 616x657x97.0 from 97.39 608x656 |
| 1982 Mar 9 | 2030? | OA-11 Rev 698 Orbit adjust | 97.55 629 x 661 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| | | 97.57 624x657x97.0 from 97.48 616x657 |
| 1982 Mar 16 | 2130? | OA-12 Rev 802 Orbit adjust | 97.45 630 x 656 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| | | | 97.47 622x650x97.0 from 97.57 624x657 |
| 1982 Mar 20 | 2133? | SRV-1 ejected, failed to deorbit | 97.40 620 x 648 x 97.24 |
| 1982 Mar 20 | | 8206C,D,E released |
| 1982 Mar 24 | 1300? | OA-13 Rev 915 | 97.43 632 x 662 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| 1982 Mar 25 | 2230? | OA-14/15 Rev 935 Orbit adjust | 97.25 623 x 655 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| | | | 97.27 613x640x97.0 from 97.46 621x649 |
| 1982 Apr 1 | 2200? | OA-16 Rev 1039 Orbit adjust | 97.15 624 x 652 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| | | | 97.17 612x631x97.0 from 97.27 612x640 |
| 1982 Apr 8 | 2100? | OA-17 Rev 1142 Orbit adjust | 97.07 624 x 649 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| | | | 97.09 608x627x97.0 from 97.17 613x631 |
| 1982 Apr 15 | 2115? | OA-18 Rev 1246 Orbit adjust | 96.97 622 x 632 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| | | | 96.98 609x616x97.0 from 97.07 612x622 |
| 1982 Apr 22 | 2115? | OA-19 Rev 1350 Orbit adjust | 96.90 619 x 619 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| | | | 96.91 603x615x97.0 from 96.98 609x616 |
| 1982 Apr 27 | 0414 | | 96.85 601 x 613 x 97.2 |
| 1982 Apr 27 | 1415? | OA-20 Rev 1420 Orbit raise | 96.82 606 x 628 x 97.3 (NRO) |
| 1982 Apr 27? | | 8206F released (fairing?) (first elset May 10) |
| | 2100? | OA-21 Rev 1424 | 96.23 565 x 616 x 97.3 |
| 1982 Apr 28 | | Mission day 97, end of high mode? |
| 1982 Apr 28 | 0307 | | 97.51 633 x 645 x 97.2 (TLE) |
| | 1200? | OA-22 | 95.02 503 x 561 x 97.3 |
| | 1500? | OA-23 | 93.97 397 x 565 x 97.3 |
| | 1800? | OA-24 | 92.87 289 x 565 x 97.3 |
| | 2100? | OA-25 | 91.77 182 x 565 x 97.3 |
| 1982 Apr 29 | 0015? | OA-26 | 91.48 155 x 564 x 97.3 |
| | 1100? | OA-27 | 90.32 155 x 450 x 97.3 |
| 1982 Apr 30 | 1700? | OA-28 | 89.20 150 x 343 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 3 | 2100? | OA-29 | 88.85 152 x 308 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 4 | 2030? | OA-30 | 88.85 151 x 308 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 5 | 2000? | OA-31 | 88.83 151 x 306 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 6 | 2000? | OA-32 | 88.83 151 x 307 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 7 | 2100? | OA-33 | 88.82 150 x 306 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 8 | 2100? | OA-34 | 88.83 150 x 308 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 9 | 2030? | OA-35 | 88.83 150 x 308 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 10 | 2000? | OA-36 | 89.02 165 x 311 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 10 | 2300? | OA-37 | 88.80 154 x 300 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 11 | 2100? | OA-38 | 88.82 153 x 303 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 12 | 2100? | OA-39 | 88.83 153 x 304 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 13 | 2100? | OA-40 | 88.83 153 x 305 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 14 | 2200? | OA-41 | 88.83 153 x 305 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 15 | 2000? | OA-42 | 88.82 152 x 304 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 16 | 0000 | 06E at 165.7E 43.1N 646 km |
| | | 06D at 59.42W 77.4N 646 km |
| | | 06C at 148.9E 53.9S 638 km |
| 1982 May 16 | 2000? | OA-43 | 88.93 157 x 310 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 16 | 2300? | OA-44 | 88.82 149 x 307 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 17 | 2100? | OA-45 | 88.90 148 x 316 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 18 | 0000? | OA-46 | 88.85 145 x 315 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 18 | 2200? | OA-47 | 88.90 146 x 318 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 19 | 2330? | OA-48 | 88.85 142 x 317 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 19 | 2200? | OA-49 | 88.87 142 x 319 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 20 | | End of photo mission? |
| 1982 May 20 | 1700? | Rev 1792 valves open |
| | | MPS deboost/recovery aborted |
| | 2000? | Rev 1794 valves closed |
| 1982 May 22 | 0430? | OA-50 | 88.27 142 x 259 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 22 | 0600? | OA-51 | 88.32 151 x 255 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 22 | 1030? | OA-52 | 88.35 153 x 256 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 22 | 2100? | OA-53 | 88.45 160 x 260 x 97.3 |
| 1982 May 23 | |
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| | 2210? | Deorbit |
| | 2225? | Eject SRV | |
| | 2229? | SRV thrust cone sep |
| | 2235? | Reentry | |
| | 2246 | Mid-air recovery |