1995-074A
The Bruno B. Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) was intended for studies of the time variability and spectra of bright X-ray sources in the hard X-ray (2 keV and above). Known before Mar 1996 as simply XTE, the satellite used a bus built at NASA-Goddard with steerable solar arrays, reaction wheels, and high gain TDRS antennae to allow all-sky access and rapid maneuvrability. The bus was 5.8 x 1.8 x 1.8m in size. It could point to 6 arcmin with a 10 degree per minute slew rate; mass of XTE was 2955 kg. XTE was named after Bruno Rossi (1905-1993), a former MIT physicist who was one of the founders of X-ray astronomy.
Launch was postponed many times because of the Koreasat launch problem and because of weather delays. The first ignition attempt on Dec 22 was aborted when a frozen LOX valve prevented main engine ignition. Launch finally came on 1995 Dec 30.
The satellite was retired in 2012 after a successful career.
| RXTE | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 Dec 30 | 1348:00 | Launch by Delta 7920-10 (Delta230) | CC LC17A |
| 1347:57 | Verniers ignite (T-3s) | ||
| 1347:57 | Main engine ignition (T-2.5s) | ||
| 1348:00 | GEM 1,2,3,7,8,9 ignite (T-0.25s) | ||
| 1348:00 | Liftoff | ||
| 1349:03 | GEM 1-3,7-9 burnout (T+1:03) | ||
| 1349:05 | GEM 4-6 ignite (T+1:05) | ||
| 1349:06 | GEM 1-3,7-9 sep (T+1:06) | ||
| 1350:08 | GEM 4-6 burnout (T+2:08) | ||
| 1350:11 | GEM 4-6 sep (T+2:11), 60 km | ||
| 1352:20 | RS-27 MECO (4:20), 133 km | ||
| 1352:29 | Thor sep (4:29) | ||
| 1352:34 | Delta ignition (4:34), 140 km | ||
| 1352:40 | Fairing (10-foot) sep (T+4:40), alt 143 km | ||
| 1357:55 | Delta SECO1 (T+9:55), 181 km | 157 x 613 x 28.73 | |
| 1456:18 | Delta burn 2 (T+1:08:18 for 1:31) | ||
| 1457:49 | Delta SECO2 (T+1:09:49) | ||
| 1506:25 | Delta sep from XTE (T+1:18:25) | 565 x 583 x 23.0 | |
| 1507:07 | Delta retro cutoff (T+1:19:07) | ||
| 1526:45 | Delta evasive burn (T+1:38:45) | ||
| 1526:50 | Delta SECO 3 (T+1:38:50) | ||
| 1534:40 | Delta depletion burn (T+1:46:40) | ||
| 1536 | Delta SECO 4 command | 176 x 575 x 25.0 (Delta) | |
| 2012 Jan 4 | Last science data | ||
| 2012 Jan 5 | Decommissioned | ||
| 2018 Apr 30 | Reentered | ||
Payload:
- PCA Proportional Counter Array 5 Xe pc's 6250cm2 2-60 keV 1 deg FOV, 1 mus
- HEXTE High Energy X-ray Timing Experiment1600 cm2 20-200 keV 1 deg FOV, 10 mus
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