Jan 15 1982
From The Space Library
NASA launched RCA-C from the Eastern Space and Missile Center (ESMC) at 8:55 p.m. on a Delta into a transfer orbit with 36,116-kilometer apogee, 182-kilometer perigee, and 27.5° inclination, from which it would assume a geosynchronous station at 83W. Called Satcom 4 in orbit, the 2,385-pound craft with a 10-year design life carried 24 transponders, each able to handle an FM/color television transmission. (NASA Release 82-3; NASA MOR 0-492-206-82-05 (prelaunch] Jan 11/82, [postlaunch] May 13/82; NASA wkly SSR, Jan 14-20/82; D/SD, Jan 19/81, 83)
MSFC shipped the induced environment-contamination monitor back to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) after servicing it in preparation for the third Shuttle flight. The desk-sized detector consisted of 10 instruments to check the environment in and around the Shuttle cargo bay for contaminants that might damage or interfere with sensitive equipment. The monitor would play a dual role on the next mission: besides carrying out its normal functions, the 1,000-pound package would serve as a load to exercise the remote-manipulator arm. All instruments on the monitor operated successfully in its first flight on the second Shuttle mission; data collected then were still being analyzed. (MSFC Release 82-7)
A month-long analysis of the data produced by the monitor on the second Shuttle flight clearly identified every contamination-producing activity (such as thrust firings and water dumps). On future missions, the monitor could differentiate contamination from other sources. It recorded low humidity in, and successful sealing of, the cargo bay from engine byproducts during ascent and descent; few particles of matter larger than five micrometers, but a number of smaller particles well above expectations; a 90% reduction of water molecules and other early-mission contaminants after about 35 hours in orbit; and a temporary cloud of particles from using the attitude-control system or from dumping of water. Project scientist Edgar Miller of MSFC said that, when the orbiter flew with the cargo bay pointing ahead, molecular readout was high because orbiter-generated particles were deflected back into the bay; action would be taken to keep this from happening while using sensitive instruments.
The third Shuttle flight, planned for seven-days, would test the monitor in high temperatures from the planned solar orientation of the cargo bay, compared to the mild levels produced by the Earth orientation of the second flight. The remote manipulator would move the monitor to selected points for readout during the flight. (MSFC Release 82-14; NASA Release 82-13)
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