Monday, May 11, 2009

Polar

 1996-013A


The Polar Plasma Laboratory, POLAR, satellite was similar in design to Wind and was also build by Lockheed Martin Astro Space. It was launched in Feb 1996 from Space Launch Complex 2-West at Vandenberg. Polar is 2.1m high and 2.4m in diameter, and is spin stabilized. It is 1005 kg dry with 269 kg of propellant. It has two 6-m booms which deploy from its equator, carrying PWI and MFE. Six wire antennae also deployed. The EFI antennae along the spin axis are 14 meters tip to tip; the two orthogonal pairs of antennae in the equatorial plane are 130 m and 100 m tip to tip.

The PIXIE auroral X-ray imager also was able to observe celestial X-ray sources in its field of view, and monitored Cir X-1. In 1998 it observed the transient source XTE J1550-564 which was brighter than the aurora.

 


Polar 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1996 Feb 24  1124:00  Launch by Delta 7925-10  V SLC2W 
  T+1:28 SRM 1-6 sep at 27 km 0.969 km/s  -6330? x 33?  
  T+2:11 SRM 7-9 sep at 53 km 2.012 km/s  -6180 x 65? 
  T+4:20 MECO 116 km 
  T+4:34 SES-1 125 km 5.584 km/s  -4250? x 170?  
  T+4:40 Fairing 128km 5.600 km/s  -4200 x 180?  
 1135:12 T+11:12 SECO-1 179 km  157 x 280 x 86.0  
 1201:05 T+37:05 SES-2 199 km 
 1201:29 T+37:29 SECO-2  176 x 910 km x 86.0 
 1202:59 T+38:59 TES 
 1204:26 T+40:26 TECO 
  NCS blowdown 
 1206:19 T+42:19 Stage 3 sep  185 x 50550 x 86.0  
 1337? Delta depletion  182 x 913 x 85.9 
1996 Feb 25    939.22 187 x 50594 x 86.0  
1996 Feb 28?   Raise perigee 
1996 Mar   U and V axes to 20 m 
1996 Mar 4   Four EFI radial wire hats jettisoned 
1996 Mar 4   U axis wires to 35m length 
1996 Mar 4   LDB booms deployed 
1996 Mar 9    1051.45 5141 x 50605 x 85.9  
1996 Jun 20    1053.43 5373 x 50465 x 86.1 
1996 Aug 21    1053.59 5393 x 50447 x 86.1 
1997 Apr 28   Trim 1061.41 5724 x 50455 x 86.4 
1997 Nov 17   Trim 1065.40 5620 x 50731 x 86.4 
1998 May 18   Trim 1070.14 5483 x 51073 x 86.2 
1999 Apr 21   Trim 1076.21 4755 x 52063 x 85.4 
1999 Nov 29   Trim 1080.03 4421 x 52561 x 85.1 
2002 Apr 10    1098.68 3082 x 54701 x 82.5 
2003 Apr 4   Trim  1102.83 3193 x 54767 x 82.3 
2004 Nov 26    1102.96 4065 x 53902 x 83.4 
2008 Apr 29   Decommissioned 

Payload:

  • PWI Plasma Wave Investigation (on side boom)

  • MFE Magnetic Fields Experiment (on side boom)

  • EFI Electric fields instrument (on spin axis booms).

  • CEPPAD Comprehensive energetic particle pitch angle distribution

  • PIXIE Polar Ionospheric X-ray Imaging Experiment;uses movable pinhole camera mask and positional Ar/Xe prop. ctr. with 0.5 deg resolution and 40 deg FOV, 3-60 keV.

  • FPA Fast Plasma Analyser

  • VIS Visible Imaging System

  • TID Thermal Ion Dynamics Experiment/Plasma Source Instrument

  • UVI Ultraviolet imager. f/3 camera, 8 deg FOV. MCP + CCD.

  • TIMAS Toroidal Imaging Mass Angle Spectrograph

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