GOES-C Press Kit

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Con entsGeneral Release . . . . . . . . l - 4Launch Vehicle . . . . . . . . ..5 6Major Launch Events . . . . 7GOES-C Program Officials 8 - 9Contractors . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

National Oceanic andAtmospheric AdministrationRockville, MD20852(301 443-8243

National Aeronautics andSpace Adm n st rat onWashington, D.C. 20546(202) 55-8370


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N O M 78-66RELEASE: Sunday

June 11,1978Vital Weather Satellite SetFor Launch This Week

A carefully controlled series of space maneuvers begins this weekwith the scheduled launch of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-tration satellite, and ends next winter with the start of an internationstudy of global weather.

The successful launch by NASA from Kennedy Space Center onFridaymorning (June 1 6 j o f the Commerce Department agency's GOES-C geostationarsatellite is a key element in the Global Weather Experiment, a world-widyear-long accumulation of meteorological and oceanographic data whichbegins in December.

The largest international scientific experiment in history, with140 nations participating, the Global Weather Experiment depends uponinformation collected from many sources. Oceanographic and wind observa-tions all over the world will be made by nine satellites and scores ofships and aircraft, while thousands of surface and upper air observationwill be made daily by several hundred buoys distributed in the SouthernHemisphere and by conventional observation methods elsewhere on earth.

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The experiment is a part of the Global Atmospheric Research Programsponsored by the World Meteorological Organization of the United Nationsand the International Council of Scientific Unions. It will be conductethroughout 1979, providing scientists with millions of pieces of infor-mation from all over the world.

The spacecraft scheduled for launch by NASA onFriday not onlyw i l l p l a y a major r o l e i n p r ov id in g Western Hemisphere coverage for t h eexperiment, but the launch success or failure will determine how muchimportant meteorological information will be available from a data-sparsarea of the world centered on the Indian Ocean.

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GOES-C, which becomes GOES-3 once successful orbit at 22,300 miles(35,750 kilometers) is achieved, will replace another NOAA geostationarysatellite now positioned to observe much of the Pacific Ocean and thewestern half of the United States. That spacecraft -- G O E S - 1 -- will bemoved by stages from its present position above the Equator at 135 degreeswest longitude almost halfway around the earth to about 60 degrees eastlongitude.

GOES-1 first will be shifted to 15 degrees west, over the AtlanticOcean, where it will remain under the control of NOAA's National Environ-mental Satellite Service Command and Data Acquisition Station in Wallops,Va. At the same time, space technologists at a new acquisition stationbeing installed in Spain by the European Space Agency will participate incontrol of the spacecraft for familiarization purposes.

About the first of November, GOES-1 will be in position over theIndian Ocean, fully under control of the Spanish station and ready tobegin providing information on December 1 for the Global WeatherExperiment.

In that experiment five geostationary satellites -- and four polarorbiting spacecraft -- will be collecting data: GOES-1, G O E S - 2 - abovethe Equator over South America, and GOES-3; a European satellite inposition above the Equator over Western Africa; and, a Japanese spacecraftover New Guinea.

Two of the polar-orbiting spacecraft will be operated by the U.S.;TIROS-N, a NASA satellite to be launched in July, and N O M - 6 scheduled forOctober launch. The other polar-orbiters wiIl be operated by the U.S.S.R.

The satellite scheduled for launch Friday i s almost identical to'four earlier geostationary environmental monitoring satellites launchedby the United States since 1974. Like its predecessors, it will providea variety of imagery of North and South America and much of the Atlanticand Pacific Oceans every half hour. The imagery is used by meteorologistsin weather forecasting, wind and cloud cover analysis, severe storm warn-ing and hurricane tracking, and other activities. Oceanographers useinformation from the spacecraft for ocean current analysis, ship routing,and other purposes; while hydrologists find the information valuable forsnow melt and snow area determination, water resource management, andvarious agricultural applications.

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In addition, the GOES series spacecraft collect and transmit infor-mation recorded by data collection platforms at remote places on land, onbuoys in the ocean, and carried aloft by balloons and aircraft. Thisinformation is communicated by the GOES satellites to users on earth.

The s p a c e c r a f t a l s o measure solar activity, detect s o l a r flares, anddetermine the intensity of solar winds. and the strength and direction ofthe Earth's magnetic field.

GOES-C is scheduled for launch about 6:15 a.m. It will be boostedinto orbit by a three-stage Delta launch vehicle and initially will becontrolled by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center at Greenbelt, Md.

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GOES-C is expected to be the last NOAA geostationary satelliteto be launched by NASA atop a rocket.craft are planned during the next eight years, to be carried into spaceon NASA's Space Shuttle, beginning with GOES-D, now anticipated to beplaced in orbit in late 1980.

Although weighing 1,385 pounds at launch, the GOES-C satellitewill be reduced in weight to 647 pounds in orbit, after the fuel inits apogee boost motor -- which positions the spacecraft into finalorbit -- is expended. It is drum-shaped, about 75 inches (190 centi-meters) in diameter, and 11 feet (3.4 meters) long.

Three more geostationary space-

The satellite's orbit and altitude are matched with the earth'srotation so the spacecraft is placed into what appears to be a stableposition above the same spot on earth.

Goddard Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (STDN) will providenecessary support for the mission. The tracking stations include theMinitrack Network and stations at Guam; Orroral, Australia; Santiago,Chile; Quito, Ecuador; Rosman, N.C.; and Wallops Island, Va,

Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md-, has contract andsystems management responsibility for the spacecraft and performs in-orbit testing of the satellite-until t is turned over to NOAA foroperational use about 30 days after launch.

Missions and SubsystemsThe GOES-Csatellite will carry five basic subsystems aloft to

accomplish a variety of missions, including:* Providing near-continual, high-resolution visual and infraredimaging over large areas of North and South American and sur-rounding oceans at least every 30 minutes;

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* Collecting environmental data from up to 10,000 remote observingplatforms on land, in the ocean, and in the air;

* Measuring energetic solar particle flux, X-rays, and thestrength of the earth's magnetic field; and,

* Broadcasting centrally prepared weather and satellite information.The spacecraft on-board subsystems include:* Visible and infrared Spin Scan Radiometer (VISSR) providingvisible and infrared imagery;

* Space Environment Monitor (SEM) subsystem, including a magneto-meter, a solar X-ray telescope, and an energetic particle monitor,all for solar observations;

* Data Collection System (DCS) providing comnunications relaybetween data collection platforms and the Command and DataAcquisition (CDA) Station at Wallops, Va.;

* Wideband Communication subsystem for transmission of wide-band video data, "stretched" VISSR data, and weather facsimiledata; and,

* Telemetry, Tracking and Command subsystem for commanding thespacecraft and transmitting SEM data.

William J. Brennan# #

N O M Public AffairsRockville, MD 20852(301) 443-8243


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nELTA LAUNCH VEHICLE (2914) STATISTICSThe GOES-C spacecraft will be launched by a three-stageDelta 2914 launch vehicle. This launching will mark the142nd for the Delta rocket which has achieved an impressive

performance record of more than 90 per cent. The launchvehicle has the following general characteristics:Height: 35.4 m (116 ft.) including shroudMaximum Diameter: 2 . 4 m (8 ft.) without attached solidsLiftoff Weight: 131,895 kg (293,100 lbs.)*Liftoff Thrust: 1,765,315 newtons (396,700 lb.)including strap-on solids.

First Stage(Liquid Only) consists of an extended long-tank Thor,produced by McDonnell Douglas. The RS-27 engines are pro-

duced by the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International.Height: 21.3 m (70 ft.)Diameter: 2.4 m (8 ft.)Propellants: RP-1 kerosene as the fuel and liquidoxygen (LOX) as the oxidizer*Thrust: 912,000 N (205,000 lb.)Strap-on solids consist of 9 TMX-354-5 Castor I 1 solid-propellant rockets produced by the Thiokol Chemical Corp.,with the following features:Height: 7 m (23.5 ft.)Diameter: 0.8 m (31 in.)Propellants: Solid*Thrust: 2,083,000 N (468,000 lb.) for nine and231,400 N (52,000 lb.) for each

Second Stage

a TRW T R - 2 0 1 rocket engine; major contractors for the vehicleinertial guidance system located on the second stage areHamilton Standard, Teledyne and Delco. The second stage hasthe following characteristics:

Produced by McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co., using

Height: 6.4 m (21 ft.)Diameter: 1.5 m (5 ft.)Propellants: Liquid, consisting of Aerozene 5 0 forthe fuel and Nitrogen Tetroxide (NzO4)*Thrust: About 42,943 N (9,650 lb.)- more -


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Third Stage .J

with the following characteristics:A TE-364-4 motor produced by Thiokol Chemical Co.,

Height: 1.4 m (4.5 ft.)Diameter: 1 m (3 ft.)Propellants: Solid*Thrust: 61,855 N (13,900 lb.)

* Unless otherwise specified, all thrusts are average forthe duration of the motor firing.


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N A J O R LAUNCH EVENTS F O R D E L T A / G O E S -C MISSION (BET)A l t i t u d e V e l o c i t yEvent Time Mile s/K ilom ete rs Mph Km/Hr

L i f t o f f 0 sec . 0 0 0 0Si x So l i d M oto r B urnout 38 sec .T h re e S o l i d M ot or I g n i t i o n 39 sec .

3.9 6.3 1524 2 4 5 23.9 6.3 1524 2452

Three S ol id Motor Burnout 1 min. 17 sec. 13.8 22.3 2650 4265N in e S o l i d M ot or J e t t i s o n 1 min. 2 7 sec. 16. 8 27 2865 4611Main En gi ne C u to ff (MECO) 3 min. 41 sec. 57 92 12059 19408F i r s t / S e c o n d S t a g eS e p a r a t i o n 3 min. 49 sec . 61 98 12074 19432

102125170

120601 2 4 4 017544

194082 0 0 2 128235

, S ec on d S t a g e I g n i t i o nF a i r i n g J e t t i s o nF i r s t C u t o f f S t a g e I1

PI

(SECO- )

3 min. 54 sec .4 n i n . 31 sec.8 min. 48 sec.

6378105

1751417814

2818528669

20 min. 51 sec.2 1 min. 03 sec .

111111

179179

Res ta r t St age I1Fi na l C ut o f f - S t age I1(SECO-2)

182182

1780917808

2866028660

T h i r d S t age Sp i nupSecond/Thi rd S tageS e p a r a t i o nT h i rd S t a g e I g n i t i o n

2 2 min. 03 sec.2 2 min. 0 5 sec .

113113

18418922 3

178022297322905

286503697336861

2 2 min. 4 6 sec.23 min. 29 sec.2 4 min. 43 sec.

114117139

T h i r d S t age B ur nou tS p a c e c r a ft S e p a r a t i o n


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- 8 -DELTA/GOES-C TEAM

N O MDavid S. Johnson

Clifford A. SpohnGeorge H. LudwigE. Larry HeacockEdward W. MowleEdward W. BisoneFrank H. EastmanShelia Frye

NASA HeadquartersJohn F. Yardley

Joseph B. MahonPeter Eaton

Director, National Environmental SatelliteService

Deputy Director, NESSDirector, Office of Operations, NESSDirector, Office of Systems Integration, NESSGeostationary System Group Head, NESSSpacecraft Coordinator, NESSPayload Coordinator, NESSGoddard Liaison Administrative Asst., NESS

Associate Administrator for Space TransportationSys ems

Director, Expendable Launch Vehicle ProgramsManager, Delta Launch Vehicles

Goddard Space Flight CenterDr. Robert S. Cooper DirectorRobert E. Smylie Deputy DirectorRobert Lindley Director of ProjectsRobert Baumann Assistant Director for

Space Transportation SystemsDavid Grimes Delta Project ManagerWilliam R. Russell Deputy Delta Project Manager,

Technical

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Rober t Gos s M i s si on A n a l y s is a nd I n t e g r a t i o nManager , Delta P r o j e c t

Frank Lawrence Delta Mission I n t e g r a t i o n M anagerR o b e r t H . P i c k a r d P r o j e c t M anager, GOES-CR i c h a r d J . Wirth Deputy P r o j e c t M a n a g e r , Te c h n i c a lA u q u s t H . Wessels, J r . Deputy P r o j e c t Manager , ResourcesA r t h u r C . C l a r k eJohn P. LahzunR o b e r t R . MarshRalph N . BanningK e r m i t B . BlaneyM i c h a e l J . ProkopchakL a r r y E . RouzerKennedy Space C e n t e rL e e R . S c h e r e rG e r a l d D. G r i f f i nD r . Walter J . KapryanGeorge F. PageW . C . Thacker

B e r t L . G r e n v i l l eGayle Hager

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

Science ManagerA s s i s t a n t S p a c e c r a f t M anagerM i s s i o n O p e r a t i o n s H an ag erNetwork O pe ra t io ns ManagerNetwork S up po r t ManagerMission Suppor t ManagerI n s t r u m e n t Manager

Direc torDeputy DirectorDirec tor , S p a c e V e h i c l e sO p e r a t i o n sD i r e c t o r , Ex p e n d a b l e V e h i c l e sC h i e f , Delta O p e r a t i o n s

D i v i s i o nComplex 1 7 Opera t ions ManagerS p a c e c r a f t C o o r d in a to r

CONTRACTORSD e l t a Launch Veh ic le

H u n t i n g t o n B ea ch , C a l i f .Ford Aer ospa ce Corp . GOES-C S p ac ec ra f tS a n t a B a r b ar a Research V i s i b l e I n f r a r e d S p i n Sc an R a di om e te rC e n t er , s u b s i d i a r y ofHughes A i r c r a f t Company

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