Esro-IV Press Kit

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s~X -p7, /0, 50NATIONAL AERONAUTICS ANDSPACE ADMINISTRATION'Washington, D. C. 20546202-755-8370

FOR RELEASE:November 17, 1972

D PROJECT: ESRO-IV

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GENERAL RELEASE . ....... . 1-5LAUNCH VEHICLE . ...... 6ESRO PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS . . . . . 7-8ESRO-IV MISSION IN BRIEF . . . . .- 1,J

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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS ANDSPACE ADMINISTRATIONWashington, D. C. 20546

Phone: (202) 755-8370FOR RELEASE:November 17, 1972Howard Allaway(Phone: 202/755-3680)

RELEASE NO: 72-214

NASh TO LAUNCH EUROPEAN SPACECRAFT

ESRO-IV, a scientific spacecraft designed and builtin Europe, is scheduled to be launch by NASA on a Scoutlaunch vehicle from the U.S. Western Test Range in Cali-fornia no earlier than November 20, 1972.

The 130-kilogram (286-pound) satellite will carry sixscientific and technological experiments that will investi-gate and measure several phenomena in the Polar ionosphere,a region of high ion density that begins in the upper at-mosphere and extends to an indefinite height in space.

ESRO-IV will be launched under an agreement whichprovides that NASA will furnish launching and associatedservices to the European Space Research Organization (ESRO)on a reimbursable basis.

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ESRO members are Belgium, Denmark, France, FederalRepu~blic of Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden,Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

The orbit planned for ESRO-IV is near-Polar, inclined90.8 degrees to the Equator, with an apogee of 1,100 kilo-meters (682 statute miles) and a perigee of 280 kilometers(173 statue miles). The orbital period will be 98.4 minutes.

Scientific measurements made by the satellite will beconcentrated over Northern Europe to correlate ground-based Polar ionosphere observations and simultaneous measure-ments made with sounding rockets launched from Kiruna,Sweden.

Basic objectives of the ESRO scientific experiments,and their investigators are:

- Investigate ionospheric species, their eneico, dis-tribution and drift velocity; total ion density and irregu-larities; electron temperature and density. Mullard SpaceScience Laboratory of University College, London, England.

- Study the composition and density of neutral gasparticles and their variations with respect to altitude,lati tude, season, and local time. Institute of Physics, iUniversity of Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany.

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- Investigate the mechanism of low-energy particleprecipitation in the auroral zones and other auroral events.Kiruna Geophysics Observatory, Kiruna, Sweden.

- Study Polar Cap absorption events andt high-energyparticles of solar origin, their propagation in interplanetaryspace, and how they enter the magneto-phere. Laboratory forSpace Research, Sterrekundig Institute, Utrecht, The Nether-lands.

- Measure the flux and energy spectrum of solar flareparticles, trapped particles in the Earth's lower radiationbelt, and galactic and non-sloar energetic particles. MaxPlanck Institute for Extraterrestial Physics, Garching byMunich, Federal Republic of Germany.

- The sixth experiment is a technological experiment toqualify for space flight a European-built, infra-red horizonsensing instrument that takes attitude measurements of spin-ning satellites. The investigator is the European SpaceResearch and Technology Center (ESTEC), Noordwijk, TheNetherlands.

ESRO-IV is a cylindrical spacecraft with body-mountedsolar cells. Three radial booms, hinged at the bottom ofthe craft, are folded forward along its sides during launch.The booms contain sensors for part of the ionospheric speciesexperiment; they are deployed in orbit under the influenceof centrifugal forces caused by the spinning motion of thesatellite -more-


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A fourth boom, mounted on the spacecraft's bottom,is stowed inside the center of the craft during launch;it is deployed immediately after the radial booms.

The satellite is spin stabilized at an intial spinrate of 60 to 75 revolutions per minute.

Boom deployment is automatically begun after the space-craft separates from the Scout-D launch vehicle. If theautomatic system fails, however, deployment can be initiatedby ground command.

ESRO will be tracked and interrogated by the EuropeanSatellite Tracking, Telemetry and Telecommand Network(ESTRACK). Assistance will be provided by NASA's world-wideSpace Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (STADAN), oper-ated by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.,and by the Centre National. d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) inFrance.

NASA direction of the project is by the Office ofSpace Science, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. NASA'sLangley Research Center, Hampton, Va., has management re-sponsibility for the Scout launch vehicle program.

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ESRO-IV was built by the Laboratoire Central deTelecommunications, Paris, in association with ContravesA.G., Zurich, and Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company,Antwerp, under direction of the European Space TechnologyCenter (ESTEC) at Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

The Scout-D launch vehicle is built by Ling-Temco-Vaught Inc., Dallas, Texas.

Launch services will be provided by the Kennedy SpaceCenter's Western Test Range Operations Division, Lompoc,California, in cooperation with Langley's Scout ProjectOffice.

(END OF GENERAL RELEASE; BACKGROUND INFORMATIONFOLLOWS)


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ESRO PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS

European Space Research Organization (ESRO)Dr. A. Hocker Director General, ESROand Program ManagerJ.F. Lafay ESRO-IV Project Manager,ESTEC, Noordwijk, The

NetherlandsDr. Johannes Ortner Assistant Director forSpace Mission, ESRO0. Hammarstrom Director of ESTECU. Montalenti Director of ESOC

National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationDr. John E. Naugle Associate Administratorfor Space Science, NASA

HeadqnartersJoseph B. Mahon Launch Vehicle and Pro-

pulsion ProgramRobert W. Manville Director, NASA Headquarters

Program Manager, SmallLaunch Vehicles and Inter-national Projects, NASAHeadquarters

Paul E. Goozh Scout Program Manager,NASA Headquarters

Samuel J. Ailor Assistant Head, ScoutProject Office, LangleyResearch Center

Joseph B. Talbot Scout Payload CoordinatorLangley Research Center

Rodney L. Duncan Operations Engineer, 4Langley Research Center

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ESRO-IV MISSION IN BRIEF

Launch Window: 7:15 to 7:30 p.m. EST, Nov. 20, 1972.Window changes only slightly from dayto day.Launch Site: Western Test Range, Lompoc, California,

Pad SLC-5.Launch Vehicle: Four-stage, solid fuel Scout-D.Orbit: Apogee: 1,099.7 kilometers (about 682statute miles)Perigee: 280 kilometers (about 173statute miles)Period: 98.4 minutesInclination: 90.8 degreesStabilizaticn: Spacecraft will be spin-stabilized. Spinaxis can be reoriented to achieve different

satellite attitudes as required by theexperiments. Reorientation of spin axiswill be ac2hieved by magnetic control,using actuators and sensors of theattitude control system.Spacecraft: Weight: 130 kilograms (286 pounds)

Structure: Cylindrical body whose over-all height is 138 centimeters (about 54inches) and whose diameter is 76 centi-meters (about 30 inches).Appendages: Three experiment booms thatextend from bottom of spacecraft perpen-dicular to spin axis. One experimentsboom that extends along spin axis frombottom of spacecraft. Four telemetryantennas that extend from bottom rim ofspacecraft.

Power: 6,990 solar cells mounted on spacecraftsurface supply an average of 23 wattsto operate spacecraft systems and tokeep the battery charged.

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Spacecraft Control: Primary control of ESRO-I is main-tained at the European Space OperationsCenter (ESOC) in Darmstadt, West Germany.Tracking: The satellite will be tracked through theEuropean Satellite Tracking and Tele-command Network (ESTRACK), operated by theESOC in Darmstadt. NASA's world-wideSpace Plight Tracking and Data Network(STDN) will provide limited tracking anddata acquisition support.Telemetry: Spacecraft has a split phase telemetry

system using two transmitters, both ofwhich c"nerate on the same carrier fre-quency. Data can be sent continuously,in real-ti - low-sreed transmission, orintermittently by playback of tape re-corder as alternative to high-speed,real-time transmission in mixed datamode, which consists of low-speed Ilushigh-speed data or low-speed plus play-back data. Low-power transmitter haspower rutput of 0.3 watts and operateson 137.200 megahertz. High-power trans-mitter has power output of 2.8 wattsand operates on 137.200 megahertz.

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METERS FEET22 72- -

FOURTH STAGE ESRO-IV SPACECRAFTAND FW -4SSPACECRAFT SOLID-PROPELLANT

18 60 MOTOR

ANTARES-I1THIRD STAGE SOLID-PROPELLANI

MOTOR15 50

CASTOR-I I12 40 SOLID- !ROPELLANTSECOND STAGE MOTOR

9 30

6 20ALGOL-Il1

FIRSTSTAGESOLID-PROPELLANTFIRST STAGE MOTOR i

3 10

oSCOUT LAUNCH VEHICLE

1;110ir 005.

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Esro-IV Press Kit