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Other Designations: Applications Technology Satellite. Class: Technology. Type: Communications. Nation: United States. Agency: NASA, NSF. Manufacturer: Hughes. A launch vehicle failure stranded ATS-4 in a much lower than planned orbit, making the satellite nearly useless. Although the spacecraft's systems were functional, little data was obtained. Spacecraft: Gravity gradient stabilised, 130 W BOL. Payload: C-band communications package
SpecificationDesign Life: 3 years. Total Length: 1.8 m. Maximum Diameter: 1.4 m. Total Mass: 391 kg.
ATS-4 Chronology
10 August 1968
ATS 4 Program: ATS. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Atlas Centaur SLV-3C. FAILURE: Centaur oxidizer leak. No restart. Mass: 391 kg. Perigee: 220 km. Apogee: 769 km. Inclination: 29.1 deg. Applications Technology Satellite; Centaur oxidizer leak. No restart. Launch vehicle was to have put payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit, instead was left in useless LEO orbit. Carried ion engine.
Bibliography:- 126 - Bramscher, Robert G, Spaceflight, "A Survey of Launch Vehicle Failures", 1980, Volume 22, page 351.
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Last update 12 March 2001.
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