GGSE-4

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The Gravity Gradient Stabilization Experiment (GGSE-4) was a technology satellite launched in 1967. This was ostensibly the fourth in a series that developed designs and deployment techniques later applied to the NOSS/Whitecloud reconnaissance satellites.

Contents

History

GGSE-4 was launched by the U.S. Airforce from Vandenberg Air Force Base atop a Thor Agena-D rocket. [1] GGSE-4 remained operational from 1967 through 1972. [2]

It is alleged that the real name of GGSE-4 was POPPY 5B or POPPY 5b and that it was a U.S. National Reconnaissance Office satellite designed to collect signals intelligence; [3] POPPY 5B was part of a 7-satellite mission. A partial subset of information about POPPY was declassified in 2005. [4]

Other sources say that GGSE-4 weighed only 10 pounds but that it was attached to the much larger Poppy 5, which would have weighed 85 kg and featured an 18-meter boom. [5] It is further alleged that GGSE-4's mass is not at all like GGSE-1's mass and that GGSE'4 weighs 85 kg. [6]

2020 near-miss

On 29 January 2020, 23:39:35 UTC, [7] GGSE-4 was expected to pass as closely as 12 meters [8] from IRAS, another un-deorbited satellite left aloft. IRAS was launched in 1983 and abandoned after a 10-month mission. The 14.7-kilometer per second pass [9] had an estimated risk of collision of 5%. Further complications arose from the fact that GGSE-4 was outfitted with an 18 meter long stabilization boom that was in an unknown orientation and may have struck the satellite even if the spacecraft's main body did not. [10] Initial observations from amateur astronomers seemed to indicate that both satellites had survived the pass, with the California-based debris tracking organization LeoLabs later confirming that they had detected no new tracked debris following the incident. [11]

See also

Gravity Gradient Stabilization Experiment (GGSE-1)

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References

  1. ↑ "NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details".
  2. ↑ "No satellite crash: 2 pieces of space junk whiz safely by each other over Pittsburgh". 30 January 2020.
  3. ↑ "No satellite crash: 2 pieces of space junk whiz safely by each other over Pittsburgh". 30 January 2020.
  4. ↑ "Two Satellites Could Collide Tonight". 29 January 2020.
  5. ↑ "Two satellites over Pittsburgh appear to miss after chance for collision".
  6. ↑ "Looming Potential Satellite Smashup Could Spawn Dangerous Debris Swarm".
  7. ↑ @LeoLabs_Space (29 January 2020). "Our latest data on the IRAS / GGSE 4 event" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  8. ↑ @LeoLabs_Space (29 January 2020). "Our latest update this morning for IRAS / GGSE 4" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. ↑ "2 satellites will narrowly avoid colliding at 32,800 MPH over Pittsburgh on Wednesday". 28 January 2020.
  10. ↑ @LeoLabs_Space (29 January 2020). "Adjusted calculations for larger object size" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ↑ @juliancd38 (29 January 2020). "Trails of both IRAS and GGSE4 continue unimpeded after intersection" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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