Mission type | Geodesy |
---|---|
COSPAR ID | 1976-039A |
SATCAT no. | 8820 |
Website | ilrs.cddis.eosdis.nasa.gov |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | GEOS |
Manufacturer | NASA |
Launch mass | 406.965 kilograms (897.20 lb) |
Dimensions | 0.60 metres (2 ft 0 in) diameter sphere |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 4 May 1976, 08:00 UTC [1] |
Rocket | Delta 2913 / Star-24 |
Launch site | Vandenberg SLC-2W |
Contractor | NASA |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Medium Earth |
Semi-major axis | 12,271.15 kilometers (7,624.94 mi) |
Eccentricity | 0.0044560 |
Perigee altitude | 5,838.33 kilometers (3,627.77 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 5,947.69 kilometers (3,695.72 mi) |
Inclination | 109.83 degrees |
Period | 225.70 minutes |
Epoch | 5 May 2017, 07:05:23 UTC [2] |
Instruments | |
| |
Mission type | Geodesy |
---|---|
Operator | NASA |
COSPAR ID | 1992-070B |
SATCAT no. | 22195 |
Website | ilrs.cddis.eosdis.nasa.gov |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | LAGEOS |
Manufacturer | Aeritalia for the Italian Space Agency (ASI) |
Launch mass | 405.38 kilograms (893.7 lb) |
Dimensions | 0.60 metres (2 ft 0 in) diameter sphere |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 22 October 1992, 17:09 UTC [1] |
Rocket | Space Shuttle STS-52 / Italian Research Interim Stage (IRIS) |
Launch site | Kennedy LC-39B |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Medium Earth |
Semi-major axis | 12,161.84 kilometers (7,557.02 mi) |
Eccentricity | 0.0137298 |
Perigee altitude | 5,616.73 kilometers (3,490.07 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 5,950.68 kilometers (3,697.58 mi) |
Inclination | 52.65 degrees |
Period | 222.46 minutes |
Epoch | 5 May 2017, 07:48:20 UTC [2] |
Instruments | |
| |
LAGEOS, Laser Geodynamics Satellite or Laser Geometric Environmental Observation Survey, are a series of two scientific research satellites designed to provide an orbiting laser ranging benchmark for geodynamical studies of the Earth. Each satellite is a high-density passive laser reflector in a very stable medium Earth orbit (MEO).
The spacecraft are aluminum-covered brass spheres with diameters of 60 centimetres (24 in) and masses of 400 and 411 kilograms (882 and 906 pounds), covered with 426 cube-corner retroreflectors, giving them the appearance of giant golf balls. [3] [4] [5] Of these retroreflectors, 422 are made from fused silica glass while the remaining 4 are made from germanium to obtain measurements in the infrared for experimental studies of reflectivity and satellite orientation. [6] They have no on-board sensors or electronics, and are not attitude-controlled.
They orbit at an altitude of 5,900 kilometres (3,700 mi), [7] well above low Earth orbit and well below geostationary orbit, at orbital inclinations of 109.8 and 52.6 degrees.
Measurements are made by transmitting pulsed laser beams from Earth ground stations to the satellites. The laser beams then return to Earth after hitting the reflecting surfaces; the travel times are precisely measured, permitting ground stations in different parts of the Earth to measure their separations to better than one inch in thousands of miles.
The LAGEOS satellites make it possible to determine positions of points on the Earth with extremely high accuracy due to the stability of their orbits. The high mass-to-area ratio and the precise, stable (attitude-independent) geometry of the LAGEOS spacecraft, together with their extremely regular orbits, make these satellites the most precise position references available.
The LAGEOS mission consists of the following key goals:
Ground tracking stations located in many countries (including the US, Mexico, France, Germany, Poland, Australia, Egypt, China, Peru, Italy, and Japan) have ranged to the satellites and data from these stations are available worldwide to investigators studying crustal dynamics.
There are two LAGEOS spacecraft, LAGEOS-1 launched in 1976, and LAGEOS-2 launched in 1992. As of May 2011 [update] , both LAGEOS spacecraft are routinely tracked by the ILRS network. [8]
LAGEOS-1 (which is predicted to re-enter the atmosphere in 8.4 million years [6] ) also contains a 4 in × 7 in plaque designed by Carl Sagan [9] to indicate to future humanity when LAGEOS-1 was launched. The plaque includes the numbers 1 to 10 in binary. In the upper right is a diagram of the Earth orbiting the Sun, with a binary number 1 indicating one revolution, equaling one year. It then shows 268435456 (in binary; 228) years in the past, indicated by a left arrow and the arrangement of the Earth's continents at that time. The present arrangement of the Earth's continents is indicated with a 0 and both forward and backward arrows. Then the estimated arrangement of the continents in 8.4 million years with a right facing arrow and 8388608 in binary (223). LAGEOS itself is shown at launch on the 0 year, and falling to the Earth in the 8.4 million year diagram. [10] [11]
The Explorer program is a NASA exploration program that provides flight opportunities for physics, geophysics, heliophysics, and astrophysics investigations from space. Launched in 1958, Explorer 1 was the first spacecraft of the United States to achieve orbit. Over 90 space missions have been launched since. Starting with Explorer 6, it has been operated by NASA, with regular collaboration with a variety of other institutions, including many international partners.
A retroreflector is a device or surface that reflects radiation back to its source with minimum scattering. This works at a wide range of angle of incidence, unlike a planar mirror, which does this only if the mirror is exactly perpendicular to the wave front, having a zero angle of incidence. Being directed, the retroflector's reflection is brighter than that of a diffuse reflector. Corner reflectors, and cat's eye reflectors are the most used kinds.
The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately 6.5 miles (10.5 km) northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC employs approximately 10,000 civil servants and contractors. It is one of ten major NASA field centers, named in recognition of American rocket propulsion pioneer Robert H. Goddard. GSFC is partially within the former Goddard census-designated place; it has a Greenbelt mailing address.
In satellite laser ranging (SLR) a global network of observation stations measures the round trip time of flight of ultrashort pulses of light to satellites equipped with retroreflectors. This provides instantaneous range measurements of millimeter level precision which can be accumulated to provide accurate measurement of orbits and a host of important scientific data. The laser pulse can also be reflected by the surface of a satellite without a retroreflector, which is used for tracking space debris.
TOPEX/Poseidon was a joint satellite altimeter mission between NASA, the U.S. space agency; and CNES, the French space agency, to map ocean surface topography. Launched on August 10, 1992, it was the first major oceanographic research satellite. TOPEX/Poseidon helped revolutionize oceanography by providing data previously impossible to obtain. Oceanographer Walter Munk described TOPEX/Poseidon as "the most successful ocean experiment of all time." A malfunction ended normal satellite operations in January 2006.
The Meteor spacecraft are weather observation satellites launched by the Soviet Union and Russia. The Meteor satellite series was initially developed during the 1960s. The Meteor satellites were designed to monitor atmospheric and sea-surface temperatures, humidity, radiation, sea ice conditions, snow-cover, and clouds.
The STARSHINE series of three artificial satellites were student participatory missions sponsored by the United States Naval Research Laboratory.
Kosmos 7, also known as Zenit-2 No.4 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 17 was a Soviet reconnaissance satellite launched in 1962. It was the seventh satellite to be designated under the Kosmos system, and the second successful launch of a Soviet reconnaissance satellite.
Kosmos 26, also known as DS-MG No.1 was a scientific satellite which was launched by the Soviet Union in 1964. This mission studied the Earth's magnetic field and, along with Kosmos 49, represented the USSR contribution to the International Quiet Solar Year World Magnetic Survey. The corresponding American measurements were performed by the satellites OGO 2 and OGO 4.
LARES is a passive satellite of the Italian Space Agency.
CryoSat-1, also known as just CryoSat, was a European Space Agency satellite which was lost in a launch failure in 2005. It was to have been operated as part of the CryoSat programme to study the Earth's polar ice caps.
STSat-2C, or Science and Technology Satellite-2C, or Naro Science Satellite (ko:나로과학위성) was a South Korean satellite which was launched in 2013. It was operated by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), and was intended to demonstrate technology for future spacecraft. The satellite had a mass of 100 kg (220 lb), and was expected to operate for less than a year.
GEOS-3, or Geodynamics Experimental Ocean Satellite 3, or GEOS-C, was the third and final satellite as part of NASA's Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite/Geodynamics Experimental Ocean Satellite program (NGSP) to better understand and test satellite tracking systems. For GEOS 1 and GEOS 2, the acronym stands for Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite; this was changed for GEOS-3.
BLITS is a Russian satellite launched on September 17, 2009, as a secondary payload on a Soyuz-2.1b/Fregat, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The satellite is totally passive and spherical, and is tracked using satellite laser ranging (SLR) by the International Laser Ranging Service. The design of BLITS is based on the optical Luneburg lens concept. The retroreflector is a multilayer glass sphere; it provides uniform reflection characteristics when viewed within a very wide range of angles, and can provide a cross-section sufficient for observations at low to medium orbit heights. A similar design was already tested on a smaller laser reflector carried on board of the METEOR-3M spacecraft launched on December 10, 2001.
Meteor-3M No.1 was the first and only of the Meteor-3M series polar-orbiting weather satellites. It was launched on 10 December 2001 at 17:18:57 UTC from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The satellite is in a sun-synchronous orbit with an ascending node time of about 9AM.
Starlette and Stella are nearly identical French geodetic and geophysical satellites. Starlette was launched on 6 February 1975 and Stella on 26 September 1993. Starlette was the first passive laser satellite developed.
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