RCA (Satcom 1R) Press Kit

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NASA NewsNationalAeronautics andSpace Administration

Washington. D C 20546AC 202 755-8370

For Release

Press Kit

RELEA SE N O : 83-44

Project

I MV I ED I A TE

RCA(Sat com 1R)

Contents

GENERAL RELEASE

RCA SATCOM 1R DESCRIPTION

LAUNCH OPERA TIONS

NA SA / IND USTRY TEAM

CONTRACTORS

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March 31, 1983





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Satcom 1R w i ll join fi v e other prev ious RCA conmuni cat ions

s a t e l l i t e s already i n orbit. T h e s a t e l l i t e s provide coverage f o r

a l l 50 states and Puerto Rico wi t h t elev i s i on, voice channels and

h i g h speed dat a tra nsmiss ion. Cu rr ently, there are more than

4,000 earth st ati ons wi th d i r e c t access to these spacecraft.

This w i l l be the second launch of a Delta 3924 vehicle. The

three stage Delta vehicle consists of: an extended Long Tank

F i r s t Stage with Rocketdyne RS-27 engine and nine Castor I V

str ap-on s oli d motors for the f i r s t stage; the new improved

Aerojet AJ10-118k second stage; a Thiokol TE-364-4 t h i r d stage

engine. The enti re vehicle is 8 feet (2.4 meters) in diameter

(excluding the strap-on solid motors) and 116 feet in he ig ht

(353.57 m).

McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Corp., Huntington Beach,

Calif., i s t h e prime contractor f o r production a n d launch o f t h e

Delta launch vehicle. The apogee kick motor, mounted inside the

spacecraft itself, is a Thiokol Star 30 motor.

RCA American Conrnun i cat ions , Inc. (Americom) Princeton,%

N.J., is responsible for the management of the RCA Satcom Program

i n c l u d i n g a c q u i s i t i o n o f t h e spacecraft, associated tracking,

telemetry, comnand systems and launch vehicle support.

Spacecraft development a n d production a r e t h e respons i l i y o f

RCA's Astro Electronics Di v is ion, Pri nceton. T he Delta Project

Office at the Goddard Space F l i g h t Center, Greenbelt, Md. , is

responsible to NASA's Office of Space F l i g h t for overall project

management of the launch vehicle.

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The Cargo Operations Office at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space

Center, Fla., is res ponsi bl e to Goddard for lau nch opera ti ons

management. All launch costs i n c u r r e d by NASA, i n c l u d i n g the

v ehicle hardware and launch services, are reimbursed by RCA

Americom.

RCA earth stations are located near N ew York C i t y , Sa n

Franciso and Los Angeles, and at Anchorage, Juneau, Nome, Bethel,.

Valdez and Prudhoe Bay in Alaska.

During t h e transfer o r b i t , t h e Intelsat st at ions a t Fucino,

I t a l y , and Carnarvon, Au s t ra li a, augment tr acki ng, telemetry and

command operations to provide improved global coverage. On the

sev ent h apogee, the Star 30 apogee ki ck motor w i l l be f i r e d to

produce a near-synchronous orbi t. Pos it i oning of the spacecraft

a t 139 degrees west long i tu de above the equ at or w i l l follow using

the s a t e l l i t e ' s on-board a t t i t u d e - p o s i t i o n i n g gas system.

Nominal o r b i t ch a r acte r i s t ics are:

Transfer Orbit Satcom 1R

Apogee A l t i t u d e 19,32£ nm

Perigee A l t i t u d e 93 nm

I n c l i n a t i o n 24.12 degrees

Argument of Perigee 178.2 degrees

Operational O r b i t

St a t ion Longitude 139 degrees (W )

(END OF GENERAL RELEASE; BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOLLOWS)

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RCA SATCOM 1R DESCRIPTION

The RCA Satcom 1R replaces the previous RCA Satcom 1com-munications s a t e l l i t e which has completed seven years service.The Satcom 1R thus mai nta ins f u l l ser v ices from t he RCA domesticcommunications s a t e l l i t e system which provides a wide range of

communications s e r v i c e for government and commerical customers ina l l the 50 states and Puerto Rico.

The spacecraft w i l l be placed i n t o a 35,900 km (22,300 mi.)geosynchronous o r b i t by a Delta 3924. With solar panelsdeployed, the s a t e l l i t e spans 4.72 m (15.5 ft.). Without thesolar panels, the spacecr af t main body measures 1.82m (6ft.)across.

The RCA Satcom IR's t o t a l

Star 30 apogee motor) is 1,121i s 598.6 kg. (1,320 Ibs).

transfer weight (including thekg. (2,472 Ibs). On o r b i t weight

T he three-axis s t a b i l i z e d spacecraft is equipped wi th thepower, a t t i t u d e control, thermal control, propulsi on, stru cture,and command, ranging and telemet ry necessar y to support miss ionoperations from booster sepa ra ti on th roug h 10 years in geosyn-chronous orbit.

beSpacecraft

10 years.l i f e , w i t h continuous f u l l power, i s designed t o

LAUNCH OPERATIONS

NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center is responsible for thepreparation and launch of Delta 3924 which w i l l carry the RCASatcom I R s a t e l l i t e i n t o o r b i t .

iThe Delta f i r s t stage and i n t e r s t a g e ad apter were erected on

Pad B of Complex 17 at t he Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 'Jan. 31. Du ri ng the f i r s t week of Feb. the nine solid strap-ons o l i d rocket motors were mounted in place areund the base of thef i r s t stage. The f i r s t and second stages were mated on Feb.7.T he i n i t i a l e l e c t r i c a l and mechanical checkout of the v e h i c l etook place on Feb.14, and an e l e c t r i c a l systems test was con-ducted on Feb.25. A gu id ance systems t e s t was performed onMarch 1, and a simulated f l i g h t was conducted on Mar ch 15. Af l i g h t program v e r i f i c a t i o n t e s t is to be conducted a week beforelaunch.

On Mar ch 14, the RCA I R spacecraf t a r r i v e d by t r a i l e r atCape Canaveral Air Force Station and underwent i n i t a l checkout inHangar AE. Apogee kick motor X-rays and other pr epara ti ons wereconduct ed March 14 th rou gh March 18. Checkout of the safe andarm device was performed on March 21. On March 23, propellentswere to be loaded into the spacecraft, the apogee kick motor wasto be i ns t a ll ed , and the safe and arm d e v i c e was to be connected.

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T he spacecra ft went to the Delta Spin Test Fa ci li t y on March21 for f i n a l processing. Propellents were loaded int o thespacecraft on March 23, and the spacecraft was mated with theDelta t h i r d stage on March 25. It was moved to the pad on March28 and mated wi th the Delta v e h i c l e , followed by fu nctional

test s. Th e payload f a i r i n g wh ich prot ects th e spacecraft on itsf l i g h t through the atmosphere was i n s t a l l e d March 31.

NASA/INDUSTRY TEAM

NASA Headquarters

Lt . Gen. J. A. Abrahamson

Joseph 6. Mahon

Peter Eaton

Robert E. Smylie

Goddard Space Flight Center

Dr. Noel W. Hinners

John J. Quann

W illi am C. Keathley

Robert C. Baumann

W i l l i a m A. Russell, J r .

John D. K r a f t

Richard H. Sclafford

Robert Seiders

Ralph Banning

Associate Adminis tra torfor Space F l i g h t

Di rect or, Expendable LaunchVehicle Program

Manager, Delta Program

Associate Administra tor forSpace Tracking and Data Systems

Director

Deputy Director :';.,":

Director, Project Management';->

Acting Delta Project Manager \,

Deputy D e l » t a Proj ect Manager"'.;;.

Manager, Delta Mis si on Analysi sand Integration

RCA Sat com 1R MissionI n t e g r a t i o n Manager

RCA Satcom 1R Network SupportManager

Network Director

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Kennedy Space Center

R i c h a r d G. Sm i t h

Thomas S. Walton

Charles D. Gay

D. C. Sheppard

Wayne L. McCall

D a v i d B r a g don

Director

D i r e c t o r , C a r go Oper a t ions

D i r e c t o r , E xpend a b le V e hicle s

Ope ration s

Ch ief , Automated PayloadsD i v i s i o n

Chi ef, Delta Operati onsD i v i s i o n

Spacecraft Coordinator

RCA American Communications Inc.

Dr . James J . T i e t j e n

John C h r i s t o p h e r

Joseph Schwarze

W i 1 1 i a m Palme

Joseph Elko

Presi dent

Vice President of T ec hni c a lOperat ions

D i r e c t o r , Space Systems

Manager, Advanced SpacePrograms

Manager, Spacecraft Engineering

CONTRACTORS

RCA American Communications I ncA s t r o E l e c t r o n i c s Div.P r in c e ton , N J

McDonnell DouglasA s t r o n a u t i c s Co.

H unt ing ton Beach, C a l i f .

Rocketdyne D i v i s i o n

Rockwell InternationalCanoga Park, Calif.

Thiokol Corp.

H u n t s v i l l e , Ala.

Aerojet L i q u i d Rocket Co.Sacramento, Calif.

T hiokol Corp.

Elkton, Md.

Spacecraft management

dev elopment/produ ct i on

Delta Launbh V e h i c le

F i r s t sta ge engine (RS-27)

Castor I V strap-on sol i d

fuel motors

AJ10-118k second sta ge

TE364-4 T h i r d Stage Engine

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Major Subcontractors

SPAR Aerospace D i v i s i o nSte-Anne-de-Bel lev u e

Quebec, Canada

Cha rles St ar k Dr aper LabsC a m b r i d g e , Mass.

Lockheed Space Systems

D i v i s i o nSunnyvale, Calif.

T hiokol Corp.

El k ton , Md.

Hughes A i r c r a f t C o.E l e c t r o Dynamics D i v i s i o n

T o r r an c e , C al i f .

Rocket Research

Redmond, Wash.

C u b i c Corp.

Defense Sys tern D i v i s ion

San Di ego, Ca l i f.

Parsons of C a l i f o r n i aS t oc k t on , C a l i f .

A dc o l e Corp.

Wa l t ham, Mass.

N o r t h r o p Corp.

Norwood, Mass.

Antenna Input and O u tp u t

Momentum Wheel Assembly

E a r t h Sensor Assembly a nd

Horizon Sensor Assembly

Apogee Ki ck Motor (Star 30)i n spacecraft

T r a v e l i n g W a v e T u beA m p l i f i e r s

Reaction Engine Assembly

Beacon T ran smitte r and CommandReceiver

S t r u c t u r e and Solar Panels

Sun Sensor Assembly

R at e Meas ur ing Assembly

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NOTE T O EDITORS: Recorded telephone update s on the s t a t u s of theRCA Satcom 1R la unch are a v a i l a b l e by d i a l i n g 301-344-0890.

(Index: 9, 21, 29)

Documents

RCA (Satcom 1R) Press Kit