Sunday, January 15, 2006

ATS 3

  1967-111A


Applications Technology Satellite 3 followed on the successful ATS B mission and was, if possible, even more successful, operating into the 1980s. It carried both communications and weather experiments.

Launch was at 2337 UT on 1967 Nov 5 from pad 12 at Cape Kennedy. The SR-28-3 kick motor fired at 1532 UT on Nov 6, and ATS III reached a 35791 x 36130 km x 0.5 deg orbit on station at 47 W within the day. In 1970 the meteorological imaging camera was handed over to NOAA for operational use. There was an antenna malfunction in Jul 1971.

ATS 3 was drifting back and forth between 46W and 100W from 1968 to 1970 when it was stationed at 63W and then (in Nov 1970) at 46W. From 1971 to 1976 ATS 3 remained at 69W. In early 1977 it arrived at 105W, where it remained until 2000, after officially completing its mission in 1978.


ATS 3 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

1967 Nov 5  2337:00 Launch by Atlas Agena D 
  T+2:08 BECO 
  T+2:11 Booster sep
  T+4:49 SECO 
  T+5:09 VECO 
  T+5:13 Atlas 5103 sep  -4110 x 180 x 28.33 
  T+6:12 Agena 6153 MES-1 
  T+6:21 Fairing sep 
 2345:53 T+8:53 Agena MECO-1, 12 min coast  184 x 192 x 28.4 
1967 Nov 6  0002:05 T+25:05 Agena MES-2 
 0002  Perigee from TLEs 
1967 Nov 6 0003:23 T+26:23 Agena MECO-2 
1967 Nov 6  0006  T+29:08 Agena sep  627.87 177 x 35643 x 28.4 
1967 Nov 6  1532  AKM burn 
1967 Nov 7  2329   1436.47 35772 x 35815 x 0.4 GEO 48.0W+0.1E 
1967 Nov 20   Drifting  GEO 49.4W+2.2E 
1967 Nov   Initial location at 52.3W 
1967 Dec   Relocated to 95W 
1968 Mar 9    GEO 86.5W 
1968 Oct 21    x 0.7 46.4W 
1968 Dec 5    x 0.7 47.2W+0.5 W/d 
1969 Jan 25    GEO 72.4W  
1969 Feb 15    x 0.5 73.2W+0.5 E/d 
1969 May 16    GEO 73.3W 
1969 Jun 25    x 0.2 52.1W+0.8 E/d 
1969 Jul 2    GEO 46.9W+0.11W 
1969 Aug 25    x 0.1 47.8W  
1969 Oct 13    x 0.2 45.7W+0.1 E/d 
1970 Apr 1    GEO 80W+0.1W 
1970 Jun 13    x 0.8 67.9W+0.1 E/d 
1970 Aug 14    GEO 63.3W+0.0E 
1970 Oct    x 1.1 63.5W  
1970 Nov    GEO 46W 
1971 Jan    x 1.3 65.6W 
1971 Apr 3    x 1.5 80.0W 
1971 May 31    1436.15 35665 x 35910 x 1.7 GEO 79.0W+).02E 
1971 Jun 10    x 1.7 79.1W 
1971 Sep 16    x 2.0 69.4W 
1971 Dec 21    x 2.2 69.0W 
1972 Mar 15    x 2.4 69.7W 
1973 Jun 21    x 3.6 69.6W 
1973 Dec 28    x 4.0 69.4W 
1974 May 3    x 4.3 69.7W 
1974 Sep 15    x 4.6 68.8W 
1975 Jan 12    x 4.9 69.5W 
1975 Sep 13    x 5.4 69.7W 
1976 May 26    x 5.9 70.1W 
1976 Dec 7    x 6.3 84.4W 
1977 Mar 18    1436.99 35715 x 35892 x 6.5 GEO 105.3W+0.2E 
1977 Mar 24    1436.14 35717 x 35857 x 6.5 GEO 105.1W+0.0E 
1978 Nov 15    105.3W 
1980 Sep    105W 
1982 Oct    105W 
1983 Oct 31    105.3W 
1985 Aug    105.2W 
1985 Sep    105.2W 
1998 May 5    1436.08 35719 x 35853 x 14.8 GEO 105.5W+0.00E 
2003 Feb 8    1436.09 35718 x 35854 x 13.0 GEO 105.9W+0.00W 

No comments:

Post a Comment

These Are Not My Beautiful Stories

  Summary: The chapters within are outlines for both future stories I’ve got planned (in the case that I never get around to writing them) a...