TDRS-H Spacecraft Safely On Orbit After Mid-morning Launch
Susan Hendrix
Susan.M.Hendrix.1@gsfc.nasa.gov (2
p.m.)
(Phone: 301-286-7745)
RELEASE NO: 00-88
NASA newest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-H (TDRS-H) lifted off
this morning from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. at 8:56 a.m. EDT
aboard an Atlas IIA rocket. About 30 minutes later the spacecraft separated
from the Centaur’s upper stage.
The Air Force Control Facility, located on the island of Diego Garcia,
acquired the initial signal from the satellite 36 minutes into the mission.
About 25 minutes later, ground controllers obtained data from the satellite
during its first pass over Canberra, Australia. The next major milestone
occurred at 1:51 p.m. with the unfurling of the spacecraft’s 15-foot
diameter antenna reflectors.
“Everyone on the TDRS project worked extremely hard to get to this point,”
said TDRS Project Manager Tony Comberiate of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight
Center, Greenbelt, Md. “It’s exciting to know we’ve launched a spacecraft
that will vastly improve twenty-first century communications and data relay
services for users around the world.”
TDRS-H is the first of three new satellites that features improved
multiple access and S-band single access performance, along with a new high
frequency Ka-band service. Innovative design features also include a pair
of 15-foot diameter graphite mesh reflectors, which furl easily for launch
and spring back to their original shape once on orbit.
Hughes Mission Control Center in El Segundo, Calif. will assume
responsibility for satellite commanding via NASA’s Deep Space Network/Ground
Network beginning with spacecraft separation through completion of transfer
orbit maneuvers, appendage deployments, acquisition of Earth pointing in
geostationary orbit and spacecraft bus on-orbit testing.
About 10 days after launch, a series of orbit raising maneuvers will
boost the spacecraft to a geosynchronous orbit about 22,300 miles or 35,888
kilometers above the Earth’s equator. Upon reaching its intended orbit,
TDRS-H will transition to its numerical designation, TDRS-8. Controllers
located at NASA’s White Sands (New Mexico) Complex will then assume
satellite commanding for payload in-orbit acceptance testing at 151 degrees
West longitude.
After acceptance testing, controllers will move TDRS-8 to its
operational slot at 171 degrees West longitude, where it will share a
position with TDRS-7.
“The intent is twofold,” said Roger Flaherty, Space Network Project
Manager at Goddard. “TDRS-8 will not only provide operational support to
its customers, but demonstrate NASA’s ability to co-locate spacecraft should
it be necessary in the future due to slot availability.”
NASA plans to launch TDRS-I and -J sometime in 2002 and 2003
respectively. For additional information about TDRS-H, -I and -J, visit the
TDRS Project website at: http://tdrs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Tdrsproject/
