NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION WO 2-4155

EWS WASHINGTON,D.C. 20546 TELS* WO 3-6925

FOR RELEASE: SUNDAY

RELEASE NO: 68-127

(THRU)

ATS-D LAUNCH SCHEDULED I

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has

scheduled an experimental s a t e l l i t e , t h e ATS-D (ATS-N i n
o r b i t ) , f o r launch J u l y 24 from Cape Kennedy,

The 864-lb, spacecraft w i l l be launched i n t o a

.
synchronous o r b i t about 22,300 s t a t u t e miles above t h e
Equator a t LO7 degrees West Longitude over t h e P a c i f i c Oaean.
T h i s w i l l place it about 400 miles west of Quito, Ecuador.

A g r a v i t y g r a d i e n t s t a b i l i z a t i o n system w i l l be t h e
prime experiment of ATS-D. This system makes use of the
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of t h e Earth's g r a v i t y t o s t a b i l i z e a space-
craft i n orbit.

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The s p a c e c r a f t a l s o carries a day-night camera experi-

ment. Because t h e s a t e l l i t e w i l l appear t o hover over a
s i n g l e p o i n t , and because i t s a t t i t u d e i s f i x e d r e l a t i v e
t o t h e Earth, t h e camera w i l l be able t o view c o n t i n u a l l y
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i the same area of the Earth, The camera o p t i c s are steerable
from the ground, t h u s p e r m i t t i n g continuous observation of
storm c e n t e r s and o t h e r meteorological f e a t u r e s of t h e E a r t h ' s
atmosphere.

The ATS-D, t o be launched by a n Atlas-Centaur rocket,

a l s o carries a communications experiment and an i o n engine
experiment. Both of these experiments are designed f o r u s e
aboard a g r a v i t y g r a d i e n t s a t e l l i t e .

The launch window opens a t 6:24 porn,, EIYP, Wednesday,

J u l y 24, and c l o s e s a t 7 : 3 5 pome, EIYP, The window s h i f t s
approximately one minute every o t h e r day i f a d e c i s i o n is
made t o launch a t c2 l a t e r date.

The o b j e c t i v e of t h e prime mission on ATS-D is t o

experiment w i t h ant! determine the performance of a p a s s i v e
g r a v i t y g r a d i e n t c o n t r o l system which u s e s the E a r t h ' s
g r a v i t y as an anchor f o r s t a b i l i z i n g t h e s p a c e c r a f t i n o r i b t .
It i s expected t o be a l o n g - l i f e , economical technique.

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The concept of the g r a v i t y g r a d i e n t dates back t o S i r

Isaao Newton i n the 16th Century, The Earth's gravi'ky e x e r t s
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f o r c e s deep i n t o space, r e s u l t i n g i n t h e g r a v i t y g r a d i e n t
effect. This f o r c e can cause an a p p r o p r i a t e l y designed
e

s a t e l l i t e to present i t s same s i d e continuously toward the

Earth .
The Moon i s an example of g r a v i t y g r a d i e n t s t a b i l i z a t i o n ,
One sade c o n t i n u a l l y faces Earth. The Moon's shape l i m i t s
t h e maximum s t a b i l i z a t i o n e f f e c t b u t it i s . i r r e g u l a r enough
i n shape t o r e a c t t o f o r c e s exerted by the Earth over m i l l i o n s
of years, s o i t is s t a b i l i z e d w i t h the same side always i n
view of Earth,

Engineers b e l i e v e g r a v i t y g r a d i e n t - s t a b i l i z e d satel-
l i t e s w i l l have a longer space l i f e t i m e than t h o s e without
t h i s feature. They are also less expensive than a c t i v e ,
t h r e e - a x i s s t a b i l i z a t i o n systems,

The 25l-foot t h i n booms used on ATS-D w i l l tend t o bend

away from the Sun as t h e r e s u l t of s o l a r heating. Earth
c o n t r o l s t a t i o n s w i l l be able t o observe the e x t e n t of t h i s
bending e f f e c t by t h e s a t e l l i t e g s t e l e v i s i o n camera, The
on-board meteorological camera may a l s o be used t o see a boom
i n i t s field of view which i s pointing toward t h e Earth,

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P h y s i c i s t s of N A S A ' s Goddard Space F l i g h t Center, Creen-

b e l t , Md., b e l i e v e the booms w i l l bend about 12 feet, con-
t r i b u t i n g t o a n a n t i c i p a t e d small s p a c e c r a f t p o i n t i n g e r r o r .
By observing the a x t e n t of boom bending, t h e y hope t o pre-
d i c t and compensate f o r the p o i n t i n g e r r o r .

The Image Orthicon Camera ( I O C ) , a day-night sensor,

w i l l be o r b i t e d f o r the f i r s t time on ATS-D. I n f r a r e d photos
of the Earth have been taken previously by weather s a t e l l i t e s ,
but n i g h t p i c t u r e s i n the v i s i b l e spectrum ( t h a t p a r t of t h e
spectrum which man can see) have not been p o s s i b l e ,

The Image Orthicon Camera i s a meteorological t e l e v i s i o n

camera (885 l i n e s ) s p e c i f i c a l l y designed f o r a synchronous
equatorial, gravity gradient s t a b i l i z e d spacecraft.

Each p i c t u r e made by the camera w i l l cover only a small

part of the Earth's v i s i b l e d i s k . The area of E a r t h covered
by each i n d i v i d u a l p i c t u r e of t h e e q u a t o r i a l area w i l l be
1,150 s t a t u t e m i l e s on a side. As a consequence, the camera

optics have been made so t h e y can be directed t o any p o i n t on

t h e Earth d i s k . Ground r e s o l u t i o n w i l l be about two miles
a t p i c t u r e c e n t e r when the o p t i c s are aimed n e a r the p o i n t
d i r e c t l y below t h e s a t e l l i t e .

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The area covered w i l l i n c r e a s e i n s i z e for more n o r t h e r l y

or s o u t h e r l y areas of the Earth. Sixty-four p i c t u r e s and
three hours would be required t o photograph t h e e n t i r e E a r t h ' s
disk

Night c a p a b i l i t i e s of t h i s camera system will be

evaluated under various degrees of moonlight, ranging from

a q u a r t e r t o a f u l l Moon.

ATS-D1s microwave communications experiment (Super High

Frequency) p r e s e n t on a l l ATS s p a c e c r a f t t o date, has been
designed for transmission of voice, t e l e v i s i o n ( c o l o r and
black-and-white), telegraph and d i g i t a l data t o s e v e r a l ground
stations .
United States s t a t i o n s for t h e microwave communications
tests are Rosrnan, N.C.; and Mojave, Calif.

R e s u l t s from previous microwave communications experiments

have shown t h a t s e v e r a l hundred s t a t i o n s could simultaneously
t r a n s m i t and r e c e i v e voice, t e l e v i s i o n , telegraph and d i g i t a l
data .
The f o u r t h ATS-D experiment i s a n i o n engine being tested
aboard a s a t e l l i t e for t h e f i r s t t i m e . T h i s t e s t should deter-
mine how w e l l a small Ion engine, w i t h a v a r i a b l e - c o n t r o l l e d
t h r u s t of only 5 t o 20 micropounds, (a m i l l i o n t h of a pound)
keep ATS p r e c i s e l y on s t a t i o n a t 107 degrees West longitude,

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ATS-D i s the f o u r t h of seven of a series of s a t e l l i t e s

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i n the NASA ATS program.

* The ATS program i s d i r e c t e d by N A S A ' s Office of Space

Science and Applications. P r o j e c t Management i s under the
d i r e c t i o n of NASA's Goddard Space F l i g h t Center.

N A S A ' s Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, i s responsible

f o r the Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle. Launch operations are
d i r e c t e d by N A S A ' s Unmanned Launch Operations, Kennedy Space
Center, Fla.

Hughes Aircraft Co., Culver C i t y , C a l i f . , is responsible

f o r t h e s p a c e c r a f t and i n t e g r a t i o n of s p a c e c r a f t experiments
f o r ATS-A through E. General E l e c t r i c Go., Missile and Space
Division, Valley Forge, Pa., i s responsible f o r the g r a v i t y
g r a d i e n t a t t i t u d e and c o n t r o l system, f o r ATS-A, D and E.

General Dynamics-Astronautics, San Diego, Calif., i s t h e

prime c o n t r a c t o r f o r Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle.

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