1977-053A
NRL's Navigation Technology Satellite 2 (Space Test Program mission P76-4/NRL-116) was launched on 1977 Jun 23 as a prototype for the Navstar GPS system. The single Star 37 used to orbit NTS 1 was replaced by a two-stage SVS which placed NTS 2 in the higher 12-hour orbit used by GPS. Fairchild was the SVS contractor. Like NTS 1 it used an octagonal structure and two gravity booms, but two orientable solar panels were used.
Apogee burn had been planned on first apogee but was delayed until sixth apogee. The satellite worked into the 1980s. It was known by NRL as Timation IV.
| NTS 2 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 Jun 23 | 0817 | Launch by Atlas F/SVS (65F) | V SLC3W |
| 0822 | T+6m Atlas sep | ||
| SVS spinup | |||
| 0822 | S+20s SVS stage 1 (Star 37E) burn | ||
| 0823 | SVS Stage 1 burnout | ||
| 0823 | SVS stage 2 (Star 37E) burn | ||
| 0824 | SVS stage 2 burnout | ||
| 0828 | SVS sep | 160 x 20106 | |
| 1130? | Apo 1 | ||
| 1700? | Apo 2 | ||
| 2300? | Apo 3 | ||
| 1977 Jun 24 | 0500? | Apo 4 | |
| 1100? | Apo 5 | ||
| 1977 Jun 24 | 1630? | Apo 6 | |
| 1633? | AKM (TLE) Star 27 burn | ||
| 1637? | Star 27 AKM sep | ||
| 1977 Jun 29 | RCS burn 0.48m/s | ||
| 1977 Jul 1 | RCS burn 0.67m/s | ||
| 1977 Jul 6 | RCS burn 0.92m/s | ||
| 1977 Jul 7 | Solar panels deployed | ||
| 1977 Jul 23 | 718.02 20178 X 20188 X 63.3 | ||
| 1977 Oct 24 | 717.96 19995 X 20368 X 63.3 | ||
| 1979 Jul 25 | 717.89 20143 x 20216 x 63.6 | ||
| 1983 Nov 12 | 717.88 20093 x 20266 x 64.4 | ||
| 1996 Dec 29 | 718.19 20068 x 20306 x 63.4 | ||
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