Feb 6 1975
From The Space Library
NASA launched Sms 2 (SMS-B Synchronous Meteorological Satellite) into transfer orbit from the Eastern Test Range at 5:04 pin EST. Launched for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the three-stage inertially guided Thor-Delta booster placed the satellite in an orbit with a 36 810-km apogee, 197-km perigee, 651.0-min period, and 23.9° inclination. Originally scheduled for 30 Jan., the launch had been delayed to replace the Inertial Measurement Unit of the launch vehicle's flight-control system with a newer more reliable unit. The spacecraft performed normally during the transfer orbit, and attitude and reorientation maneuvers were performed as planned. The apogee boost motor was fired on second apogee at 9:43 am EST 7 Feb. placing Sms 2 in a synchronous orbit; orbital parameters were 36 685-km apogee, 35 680-km perigee, 1456.4-min period, and 1.1° inclination. By 10 Feb. the spacecraft was drifting westward at 6° per day toward the final operational station of 115° west longitude. Over several days beginning 10 Feb., the onboard auxiliary propulsion system was fired to place the spacecraft into proper attitude for operational use. First photos were transmitted 11 Feb.
NASA objectives-to launch the spacecraft into a synchronous orbit of sufficient accuracy to enable the spacecraft to accomplish its operational mission requirements, conduct an in-orbit evaluation and checkout of the spacecraft, and turn operational control over to NOAA-were met, and the mission was adjudged successful 22 April. NASA turned over control of Sms 2 to NOAA 10 March.
The 628-kg cylindrical spacecraft carried five instruments to provide high-quality day and night cloud cover data; take radiance temperatures of the earth's atmosphere; measure proton, electron, and solar x-ray fluxes, and magnetic fields; transmit processed data from central facilities to regional stations; and transmit environmental information to NOAA from the thousands of manned and unmanned data-collection platforms on land, rivers, lakes, and the sea.
Sms 2, together with its sister craft Sms 1 (launched 17 May 1974), provided continuous coverage of the Western Hemisphere, transmitting weather photos every 30 min. SMS photos would be made into film loops of clouds moving over oceans and land masses to help meteorologists determine what types of cloud formations and weather conditions might cause the destructive tornadoes and hurricanes that frequently occur over the eastern U.S.
Sms 2 was the second in a series of two operational prototypes and one operational spacecraft (SMS-C, to be called Goes 1 in orbit) developed and funded by NASA to meet the requirements of the Dept. of Commerce's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) system. Under a NASA- DOC agreement, NASA was conducting a program to develop improved sensors and techniques-based on technology developed in its Tiros, Nimbus, and Applications Technology Satellite programs-for DOC's operational program. Follow-on GOES spacecraft were being planned. Goddard Space Flight Center, which managed the SMS program under the direction of NASA's Office of Applications, also had responsibility for the Thor-Delta launch vehicle. (NASA MORs, 9 Jan, 10 Feb, 23 April 75; NASA Releases 75-6, 75-27; GSFC Wkly SSR, 6-12 Feb 75)
DOD announced the award of a $3.6-million contract to Aerojet Electrosystems Co. for design, development, and delivery of one prototype and one flight microwave temperature sounder to be used on military meteorological satellites between 1977-1980. Under the contract, Aerojet would build and test one mechanical-thermal simulator and associated ground equipment for calibration and testing, and would develop a software data package to convert satellite data to temperature profiles.
The microwave sounder would be designed to measure atmospheric temperature from the surface of the earth to altitudes above 30 km without regard to cloudcover. (AFSC Release OIP 028.75)
France launched Starlette, a passive geodetic satellite, from Kourou, French Guiana, on a Diamant B/P.4 launcher. The satellite entered orbit with a 1137-km apogee, 804-km perigee, 104.5-min period, and 49.8° inclination. Starlette, with an inner core of uranium 238 to give it a high mass and reduce gravitational effects on the spacecraft, would reflect laser emissions directed at it from ground stations to study the earth's gravitational field, elasticity of the earth, and moments of the earth's poles.
The launch was the first for the Diamant booster developed by the Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques. (GSFC Wkly SSR, 6-12 Feb 75; Av Wk, 9 Dec 75, 55; 17 Feb 75, 19)
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