November 1978

From The Space Library

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Current revision

Two Space and Missile Test Center (SAMTEC) test ranges had provided NASA with radar tracking and data-relay support during the reentry of Pegasus 1, AFSC Newsreview reported. The micrometeoroid-detector satellite was NASA's largest unmanned spacecraft when it was launched in February 1965. The Eastern Test Range at Patrick AFB, Fla., had served as lead range in satellite tracking, furnishing data from eastern sensors to GSFC; the Western Test Range at Vandenberg AFB had tracked the satellite after receiving acquisition data from NORAD.

Employees of Federal Electric Corp., SAMTEC's range technical services contractor, had worked from early Sept. 12 until late Sept. 16 when reentry occurred off the coast of Angola. The company had used the TPQ-18 radar on south Vandenberg AFB, the FPQ-14 radar at Kaena Point, Hawaii, and the FPQ-6 radar at Pillar Point, Calif. In addition, SAMTEC Operations Control personnel at Vandenberg had supported the tracking and data relay provided to ETR from SAMTEC's Kwajalein missile range in the Marshall Islands. (AFSC Newsreview, Nov 78, 1)

The AFSC Newsreview reported that the Air Force Avionics Laboratory (AFAL) was preparing critical electronic equipment for the NavStar global-positioning system (GPS) to undergo initial flight tests with GPS satellites. A generalized development model (GDM) designed by AFAL and built by Rockwell International Corp.'s Collins Avionics and Missile Systems Division, Cedar Rapids, Ia., would demonstrate operation of GPS navigation equipment in a hostile electromagnetic-jamming environment. One GDM delivered to ASD's 4950th Test Wing had been installed on a C-141 aircraft for testing.

Evaluation of a GDM installed in two satellites had begun in August at the Naval Air Station, El Centro, Calif., and flight testing with three satellites against a ground jammer would begin in late Nov. GDM tests with four satellites in March 1979 would determine the equipment's full antijam performance, using ground-based jammers and possibly an airborne jammer. A second GDM, to be delivered to AFAL in Feb. 1979, would be integrated with the laboratory's GPS evaluator, after which AFAL engineers would conduct jamming tests in various simulated environments. (AFSC Newsreview, Nov 78, 12)

The USAF's Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO) was conducting initial ground tests of a prototype laser-communications (LaserCom) system to transfer data from satellite to satellite as well as to and from ground and airborne users, the AFSC Newsreview reported. Over a 2yr period SAMSO would test the system at the White Sands Missile Range, N.M., in three phases: ground-to-ground transmission and reception of the laser beam, by reflecting it off a 24in steerable mirror 1 to 6mi from the laser; interim air-to-ground tests, evaluating aircraft ability to acquire and point the laser transmitter toward a groundbased beacon laser; and full demonstration of the air-to-ground system, using prototype equipment.

Although most of the tests had been successful in laboratory simulations, a few unknowns remained, including laser-beam communications through the atmosphere. LaserCom had some inherent advantages over existing satellite communications systems: for example, its narrow beam width enhanced security by allowing only the intended user to receive the beam. it also offered an unprecedented data-transmission capability because its 1-gigabit-per-sec rate would accommodate a great number of spacecraft, airborne and surface vessels, and ground users that would be relaying information to a synchronous-altitude LaserCom satellite for subsequent real-time or delayed transmission to other users. After completing its tests in 1980, DOD would evaluate the system for technical capability, requirements, and cost; should LaserCom application prove feasible, in-orbit operation of the system could begin as early as 1986. (AFSC Newsreview, Nov 78, 1)

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