TDRS-I
SATELLITE SAFELY REACHES ORBIT - March 8, 2002
TDRS-I,
the second in a series of three advanced Tracking and Data
Relay Satellites, launched this afternoon at 5:59 p.m. EST
from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Spacecraft separation
occurred 30 minutes later at 6:29 p.m. EST.
NASA
controllers made initial contact with the spacecraft as it
passed over a tracking station located on the island of Diego
Garcia at 6:35 p.m. EST.
"The
entire TDRS team did an outstanding job preparing for and
conducting today's launch," said TDRS Project Manager
Robert Jenkens, Jr. of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, Md. "I'm very happy to report that we have
received telemetry indicating that we have a healthy spacecraft.
"
Controllers
at Boeing Satellite Systems' Mission Control Center in El
Segundo, Calif. will command TDRS-I using NASA's Deep Space
Network/Ground Network from the point of spacecraft separation
through completion of transfer orbit maneuvers, appendage
deployments, acquisition of Earth pointing in geostationary
orbit and on-orbit testing. These series of maneuvers will
be performed over a 10-day period, boosting the spacecraft
into a geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the Earth's
equator. NASA's White Sands (New Mexico) Complex will then
assume satellite commanding for payload on-orbit acceptance
testing, to be performed at 150 degrees West longitude.
Upon
successful completion of on-orbit testing, NASA will formally
accept ownership of the spacecraft, renaming it TDRS-9.
TDRS-J
is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,
Fla. aboard an Atlas IIA rocket sometime this fall. Boeing
Satellite Systems designed and built the enhanced series of
satellites for NASA under a firm-fixed price contract.
TDRS-I
MISSION
NASA's
second of three enhanced Tracking and Data Relay Satellites-I
(TDRS-I) is being prepped for a late afternoon launch March
8 aboard an Atlas IIA rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station, Fla. during a launch window, which extends from 5:39
p.m. to 6:19 p.m. EST.
The
new trio of advanced satellites will help replenish and augment
the original six on-orbit TDRS, which have served numerous
national and international missions for nearly two decades.
One
of the major enhancements for the new TDRS is the addition
of a steerable Ka-band single access antenna, which will provide
high data-rate support to the International Space Station
and Space Shuttle with high-resolution digital television.
The new trio also will be capable of relaying enormous volumes
of data at rates that are 5,000 times faster than the standard
56K home computer modem.
PRE-LAUNCH
ACTIVITIES UPDATE
Loading
of the spacecraft's propellants was completed Feb. 20 and
the spacecraft was mated to the payload adapter on Feb. 22.
Encapsulation of TDRS-I into the payload fairing was performed
on Feb. 23-24.
TDRS-I was transported to Pad 36-A in the pre-dawn hours of
Feb. 26 and hoisted atop the Atlas II vehicle.
On Monday, March 4, a highly refined kerosene called RP1,
will be loaded aboard the Atlas first stage, followed next
Tuesday and Wednesday with installation of the launch vehicle
ordnance and other scheduled tasks. Closeouts of the Atlas
IIA and TDRS-I are scheduled for Thursday, March 7.
Launch
is still on track for March 8.
The
above image shows TDRS-I (seen here in foreground) on-orbit
around the Earth with other TDRS.
POST-LAUNCH
ACTIVITIES
After
acceptance of TDRS-I occurs, NASA will rename the spacecraft
TDRS-9. At this point, TDRS-9 will be turned over to the White
Sands Complex Maintenance and Operations contractor, who will
assume control of the day-to-day activities on behalf of the
Goddard Space Flight Center's Space Operations Project.
TDRS-8,
together with TDRS-I and -J will provide the Space Shuttle,
International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope and many
other Earth-orbiting satellites with improved communications
and data relay services for several years. Each spacecraft
has a minimum mission lifetime of 11 years, with sufficient
fuel for up to 15 years.
Boeing
Satellite Systems, Inc., El Segundo, Calif., built TDRS-H,
-I and-J for NASA.
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