This page no longer updated from 31 October 2001. Latest version can be found at www.astronautix.com
Class: Earth. Type: Seasat. Nation: USA. Agency: NASA. Manufacturer: Ball. Built under a NASA rapid delivery contract. Carried the SeaWinds scatterometer for remote sensing of ocean winds.
Specification
QuikScat Chronology
20 June 1999
QuikScat Launch Site: Vandenberg . Launch Vehicle: Titan 2. Perigee: 804 km. Apogee: 806 km. Inclination: 98.6 deg. NASA's QuikScat carried the SeaWinds scatterometer for remote sensing of ocean winds. The Titan 2�s second stage shut down at 02:20 GMT and then coasted to apogee still attached to the QuikScat. The Titan second stage vernier thrusters ignited at apogee to raise perigee, leaving QuikScat in a 280 km x 813 km x 98.7 degree parking orbit. The QuikScat's own hydrazine propulsion system then fired to raise the perigee over a period of weeks.
Bibliography:- 4 - McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Report (Internet Newsletter), Harvard University, Weekly, 1989 to Present. HTML when accessed: ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/jcm/space/news
Back to Index
Last update 12 March 2001.
Contact Mark Wade with any corrections or comments.
Conditions for use of drawings, pictures, or other materials from this site..
© Mark Wade, 2001 .