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NASA NewsNational Aeronautics andSpace AdministrationWashington, D.C. 20546AC 202 755-8370

For Release IMMEDIATE

Pr0SSKit Project F L T S A T C O M - DRELEASE NO: 80-158

(NASA-News-Helease-80-158) FLTSATCOM-D(National .Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration) 9 p CSCL 22A Unclas^ 00/12 35183Contents

GENERAL RELEASE 1ATLAS CENTAUR LAUNCH VEHICLE 4LAUNCH VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS 5LAUNCH OPERATIONS 6LAUNCH SEQUENCE FOR FLTSATCOM-D 7THE NASA FLTSATCOM TEAM 8

October 20, 1980


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NASANewsN a t i o n a l A e r o n a u t i c s a n dSpace A d m i n i s t r a t i o nW a s h i n g t o n , D.C. 20546AC 202 755-8370

F o r R e l e a se :IMMEDIATE

Ke n SenstadHeadquarters, Washington, D.C.(Phone: 202/755-8330)

Linda PetersonLewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio(Phone: 216/433-4000, Ext. 438)

RELEASE NO: 80-158

FOURTH FLTSATCOM TO BE LAUNCHED

The fourth of five FLTSATCOM communications satellites willbe launched by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., noearlier than Thursday, Oct. 30, 1980. The Department of Defensesatellite is intended for service over the western Pacific Ocean.

FLTSATCOM-D will be placed in a geostationary orbit at 172degrees east longitude above the equator, where it will providetwo-way communications in the 240 to 400 MHz frequency band,between any two points on Earth visible from its orbital loca-tion. The spacecraft has a design life of five years.

The FLTSATCOM program is managed by the Naval ElectronicSystems Command. The Air Force Space Division is responsible forproduction, launch vehicle/spacecraft integration and trackingand data acquisition.

October 20, 1980

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The PLTSATCOM s ate llite s are the s pace borne portion of aworldwide Navy, Air Force and De partme nt of Defense system toe nable comm unications betwe e n naval aircraft, s hips, s ubmarine s ,ground stations, Strategic Air Command elements and presidentialcommand networks.

The s ate llite system will provide 23 ultra high frequencycom munication channels and one s uper high fre que ncy channe l.

This will be the 53rd launch of an Atlas Ce ntaur, NASA'sstandard launch vehicle for intermediate-weight payloads. Thefirst Atlas Centaur was launched May 8, 1962.

NASA is reimbursed for all additive costs of the AtlasCentaur and launch services by the Department of Defense underprovisions of a launch services agreement.

The Atlas Centaur (AC-57) launch vehicle will placeFLTSATCOM-D into a highly e lliptical orbit of 167 by 35,970 kilo-m e te rs (104 by 22,351 miles ). Afte r re orie ntation of the s atel-lite, a s olid prope llant rocke t motor aboard the s pacec raft willbe fired to circularize the orbit at a synchronous altitude of35,788 km (22,237 mi.). At that altitude , because the spee d ofthe spacecraft in orbit matche s the rotational speed of theEarth, the satellite remains in pos ition over one spot on theequator.

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NASA's Lewis Re s e arch Ce nte r, Cleve land, has managementresponsibility for the Atlas Centaur development and operation.NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., is ass igned ve hicle c heckoutand launch re s ponsibility once the ve hicle reache s CapeCanaveral.

The FLTSATCOM satellites, built in Re dondo Beach, Calif., bythe Defense and Space Systems Group of TRW, Inc., are 6.7 m et er s(22 feet) tall and we igh 1,876 kilograms (4,136 pounds) at lift-off and 1,005 kg (2,215 Ib.) after apogee motor firing.

(END OF GENERAL RELEASE; DETAILED INFORMATION FOLLOWS.)

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ATLAS CENTAUR LAUNCH VEHICLE

The Atlas Ce ntaur is NASA's s tandard launch ve hicle forintermediate we ight payloads. It is used for the launch of Earthorbital/ Earth synchronous and interplane tary mis s ions .

Centaur was the nation's first high energy, liquidhydrogen/liquid oxygen prope lled rocke t. Develope d and launche dunder the direction of NASA's Le wis Res earch Center, it becameope rational in 1966 with the launch of Surveyor 1, the firs t U.S.spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon's surface.Since that time , both the Atlas booster and Ce ntaur se condstage have undergone many im provem e nts . At pres e nt, the vehiclecombination can place 4,536 kg (10,000 Ib.) in low Earth orbit,1,882 kg (4,150 Ib.) in a synchronous transfer orbit and 907 kg(2,000 Ib.) on an inte rplane tary trajectory.The Atlas Ce ntaur, s tanding approximate ly 39.9 m (131 ft.)high, consis ts of an Atlas SLV-3D booster and Ce ntaur D-lARsecond stage. The Atlas boos ter deve lops 1,920 kilone wtons(431,300 Ib.) of thrust at liftoff using two 822,920-newton(185,000-lb.) thrust booster e ngines , one 266,890-N (60,000-lb.)thrust s ustaine r e ngine and two ve rnier e ngine s deve loping 2,890N (650 Ib.) thrus t each. The two RL-10 engines on Ce ntaur pro-duce a total of 133,450 N (30,000 Ib.) thrus t. Both the Atlasand the Ce ntaur are 3 m (10 ft.) in diame te r.Until early 1974, Ce ntaur was us e d e xclus ively in com bina-tion with the Atlas booster. It was s ubse que ntly use d wi th aTitan III booster to launch he avie r payloads into Earth orbit andinterplanetary trajectories.The Atlas and the Ce ntaur vehicles have bee n updated overthe years. Thrus t of the Atlas e ngine s has bee n increase d about22,400 N (50,000 Ib.) since their first use in the space programin the early 1960s.The Centaur D-lAR has an integrated electronic system thatperforms a major role in checking itself and other ve hicle sys-tems be fore launch and also m aintains control of major e ve ntsafter liftoff. The new Ce ntaur system handles navigation and

guidance tasks, controls, pressurization and ve nting, prope llantmanagement, telemetry formats and transmission, and initiatesvehicle e vents . Mos t operational nee ds can be me t by changingthe computer software.

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LAUNCH VEHICLE CHARACTERISTICS

Liftoff we ight including spacecraft: 148,173 kg(326,665 Ib.)Liftoff height: 39.9 m (131 ft.)Launch Complex: 36A

Weight (withpropellants)

Atlas Booster129,397 kg(285,272 Ib.)

Centaur Stage18,826 kg(41,504 Ib.)

Height 21.3 m (70 ft.) 18.6 m (61 ft.)with payloadfairing

Thrust 1,920 kn(431,300 Ib.)at sea level133,447 N(30,000 Ib.)in vacuum

Propellants Liquid oxygenand RP-1 Liquid oxygen andliquid hydrogen

Propulsion MA-5 system two822,920-N (185,000-Ib.) thrust boosterengines, one 266,890-N(60,000-lb.) thrustsustainer engine, two2,890-N (650-lb.)thrust vernier engines.

Two 66,723-N(15,000-lb.)thrust RL-10engines, 12 smallhydrogen peroxidethrusters.

Velocity 8,642 km/hr (5,370 mph)at booster engine cutoff(BECO), 12,971 km/hr(8,060 mph) at sustainerengine cutoff (SECO).

35,021 km/hr(21,761 mph)at spacecraftseparation.

Guidance P re programm e d profilethrough BECO. Switch toinertial guidance forsustainer phase.

Inertial guidance

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LAUNCH OPERATIONS

NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center is responsible for thepreparation and launch of Atlas Centaur AC-57 which will carryFLTSATCOM into orbit.

The Atlas booster was erected on Pad A at Launch Complex 36at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on July 15; the innerstageadapter was mated with the booster on July 16; and the Centaurupper stage was erected atop the stack on July 17.The FLTSATCOM-D spacecraft arrived on Sept. 23 and underwentinitial che ckout in the Satellite As s e mbly Facility on CapeCanaveral Air Force Station. The spacecraft was moved to Space-craft Assembly and Encaps ulation Facility-2 in the Ke nne dy SpaceCenter's Industrial Are a on Oct. 10 for mating with its apogeekick motor, loading attitud e control propellant and e ncapsulation

in the payload s hroud whic h will prote ct it during its flightthrough the atmosphere.The s pace craft and payload fairing ass embly we re mated withthe launch vehicle at Complex 36 about a week later.All launch ve hicle and pad ope rations during the launchcountdown are c onducte d from the blockhous e at Complex 36 by ajoint government-industry team.

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