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STS-51-G
Spartan 1 satellite moves away from orbiter over oceanCredit: NASA. 63,211 bytes. 481 x 465 pixels. |
Class: Solar. Nation: USA. Agency: NASA. The Spartan (Shuttle Point Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy) satellite was a reusable free-flying astronomical observatory which was deployed and then retrieved by the US Space Shuttle's Remote Manipulator System arm. The most often flow Spartan-201's main payload was the UVCS and WLC telescope package containing the SAO/Cambridge ultraviolet spectrometer and the HAO/Boulder white light coronagraph. Secondary equipment varied by mission - for example, the fifth flight had a target for the VGS laser, and sample plates to trap beryllium ions from the solar wind.
SpecificationTotal Mass: 1,195 kg.
Spartan Chronology
17 June 1985
Spartan 1 Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Mass: 1,008 kg. Perigee: 359 km. Apogee: 395 km. Inclination: 28.5 deg. Released by STS 51G 6/20/85, retrieved 6/22/85.
08 April 1993
Spartan 201 Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Mass: 1,289 kg. Perigee: 291 km. Apogee: 298 km. Inclination: 57.0 deg. Studied solar corona and galaxy; deployed from STS-56 4/11/93; Shuttle Point Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy; retrieved 4/13/93.
09 September 1994
Spartan 201 Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Mass: 1,288 kg. Deployed from STS-64 9/13/94; retrieved 9/15/94; solar studies.
03 February 1995
Spartan 204 Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Perigee: 388 km. Apogee: 389 km. Inclination: 51.7 deg. Retrievable payload to observe galactic dust in far UV; deployed from STS 63 2/7/95, retrieved 2/9/95.
07 September 1995
Spartan 201 Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Perigee: 368 km. Apogee: 376 km. Inclination: 28.5 deg. Released by STS-69 9/8/95; retrieved 9/10/95; examined solar corona.
19 May 1996
Spartan 207 Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Perigee: 278 km. Apogee: 288 km. Inclination: 39.0 deg. LEO. Deployed from STS 77 on 5/20/96; retrieved 5/21/96; deployed IAEsatellite during free flight.
19 November 1997
Spartan 201 Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Perigee: 278 km. Apogee: 284 km. Inclination: 28.5 deg. Retrieved by OV-102 Nov 25
29 October 1998
Spartan 201 Program: STS. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Retrieved by Discovery November 3 1998.
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
- 6 - JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html
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Last update 12 March 2001.
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© Mark Wade, 2001 .