OSO-F Press Kit

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W O 2-4155E W S WASHINGTON,D .C .20546 TELSg W O 3-6925NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATIONFOR RELEASE: MONDAY P.M.January 20, 1969

RELEASE Hot 68-13

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PROJECT: 0SO-F

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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION WO 2-4155N E W S WASHINGTON,D .C .20546 W O 3-6925FOR RELEASE: MONDAY P.M.January 20, 1969

RELEASE NO: 69-13

SOLAR OBSEHVATORY SET FO R LAUNCHING

An O r b i t i n g Sol ar Observatory designed t o s tudy t h e Sunand i t s inf luence i n t h e in terplanetary space near th e Ear thi s scheduled f o r launching no e a r l i e r than Jan. 22, fromCape Kennedy, Fla,

OSO-F, t o be ca l l ed OSO-V i n o r b it , w i l l be launchedi n t o a 350-mile ( s t a t u t e ) c i r c u l a r o r b i t by a three-stageDelta launch vehicle.

Designed t o provide obs erva tion s from space durin g mostof an 11-year so la r cycle , the OS0 Program i s one of th eNational Aeronautics and Space Administration's majore f f o r t s i n s o l a r p hy sic s.

Besides i t s i n t r i n s i c i n t e r e s t, th e Sun offers uniqueoppor tuni t ies t o observe c lo sely th e s t a r and t o t e s t s t e l l a rtheor ies s ince it i s the neares t s t a r t o E a r t h ,

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It i s the only s t a r c lo se enough f o r man t o observede ta i l ed f ea tu res such as spo t s and f l a res , and t o permitdeta i led s tudy of i t s X-rays, gamma ra ys and ra dio em iss ion s.

The Sun's cycle of sunspot a c t iv i t y var ie s over an11-year cycle. I t declines from a high point during thef i r s t seven t o nine years then build s back up i n the re-maining years, The OSO-F measurements w i l l be taken duringa period of near maximum solar activity.

Knowledge gained from OS0 data w i l l b e u se f u l i np r ed i c t i n g so l a r f l a r e s and provide advance warning ofin tense s o l a r ac t i v i ty which cou ld a f f ec t th e scheduling ofmanned space f l i g h t s ,

The Sun emits energe t i c p ar t i c l e s and e lect romagne t icradjgations of various wavelengths, P a r t of t h i s s o l a rr ad i a t i o n i s absorbed by the E a r t h ' s upper atmosphere. TheE a r t h ' s atmosphere absorbs most of the ultraviolet and X-raysbelow 3,000 angstroms ( R ) in the electromagnetic spectrum.The solar X-ray and u l t ra v io le t r ad ia t i on produces theregion of grea t e l ec t ron concen t ra t ion ca l l ed t h e ionosphere.

The primary object ive of OSO-F i s t o obta in h ighs p e c t r a l resolution data (within the 18 - 12508 range) fromonboard solar experiments pointed toward th e Sun,

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-3 -OSO-F continues th e sola r inves t iga t ions begun by

OSOs I, 11, 111 and Tv which w e r e success iu l ly o rb i t edduring th e past seven years.

OSO-F c a r r i e s e i gh t experiments. They are provided byUni ve rs it y College, London, and the Universi ty of Leices te r ,j o in t ly , Unive rs i t y of P a r i s , University of Colorado, U n i -v e r s i t y of Minnesota, th e Goddard Space Flight Center,Greenbelt , Md., and the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory.

The OSO-F spacecraft weighs 641 pounds. I t s e i gh texperiments weigh 265 pounds .

The spacecraf t i s designed in two sect io ns , an uppersa i l - l ik e s t r uc tu re which car r i es the pointed experiments,and a nine-sided base sec t ion ca l led t h e wheel.

The wheel carries experiments and support equipmentsuch as b a t t e r i e s and telemetry system.

As w i t h i t s predecessors , OSO-F has been designed fora l i f e t im e of s i x months and a pointing accuracy Of oneminute of a rc .

A s a i l control system keeps t h i s por t ion of t h e space-c r a f t facing the Sun w h i l e an automatic pitch c on t ro l system,using gas je t s and a magnetic torque coil , maintains th es p i n axis of th e ent i re spacecraft approximately perpendicularto the dfrection of th e Sun.


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-4-The f i r s t two OS0 sp ac ec raf t were launched su cc es sf ull y

from Cape Kennedy on Mar. 7, 1962 (OSO-I) and Feb. 1965(OSO-11) The t h i r d OSO, launched A u g . 25, 1965, f a i l e d t oo r b i t ,Mar. 8, 1967, O S O - N was launched successfully Oct. 18, 1967,

A four th OS0 (OSO-111) was successful ly launched

Both OSO-I and 11, surpassed t h e i r designed l i fet imesof s i x months and, to ge th er , provided about 6,000 hours ofsc ien t i f i c in fo rmat ion .

O S O - I 1 1 r ecen t ly passed i t s 22d month i n o rb ft andcont inues to operate w e l l . The s a t e l l i t e provides seven andone-half hours of real-time data d a i l y .

O S O - N r ecen t ly passed i t s 15th month of successfulop er ati on and a l s o provides seven and one-half hours ofreal-time data d a i l y .

OSO-G and OSO-H remain i n the program. They arescheduled fo r launching i n 1969 and l a t e 1970, r espec t ive ly .

The OS0 program i s di rec ted by Physics and AstronomyPrograms, Office of Space Science and Applications, NASAXeadquarte rs, Washington. P ro jec t management i s under t h eGoddard Space 'Flight Center, ' which is a l so r e sp o ns i bl e f o rt r ack ing and data acquis i t ion and the Delta launch vehicle.

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Launch of the Delta i s supervised by Kennedy Space C e n t e r ' sUnmanned Launch Operations (ULO) ,

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The OS0 spacecraft are designed and built by BallBrothers Research Corp., Boulder, Colo., and the DeltaLaunch Vehicle by McDonnell-Douglas Corp., Santa Monica,C a l i f .

(END O F GENERAL RELEASE; BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOLLOWS)

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OSO-F FACT SHEETObse rva to ryAbout 641 pounds (265 pounds of s c i e n t i f i cinstrum ents and as so ci at ed equipment).Weight :

Shape:

Size:

Base sect ion: nine-sided wheel with threearms carrying spi n con tro l gas supply; topsection: fan-shaped w i t h poin t ing ins t ru -mentation.Wheel diameter: 44 inches, increased t o 92inches w i t h three arms extended. Over-allhe igh t : 38 inches.

Li f e t ime : Designed fo r s i x month's us ef ul l i fe t ime.Launch Phase

S i t e : Complex 17B, Cape Kennedy, Eastern Te s tRange, F l a .Date: No e a r l i e r than Jan. 22, 1969Vehicle : Three-stage Delta launch vehicleAzimuth : 108 degreesLaunch Window: 11:48 a . m . t o 12:14 p . m. ESTO r b i t a l Plan: Circu lar or b i t about 350 miles ( s t a t u t e ) a l t i t u d e

Period: About 96 minutesInc l ina t ion : 33 degrees t o t h e EquatorObservatory Power Subsystem

Solar powersupply: Maximum 38 watts provided by 4.0 sq uare f ee tof N/P s o l a r c e l l s arranged i n 36 p a r a l l e lstrings of 56 c e l l s each on Sun-facing s ideof s a i l sec t ion .Typical maxi'- About 26 watts including 13 watts f o r ex p e r i-mum load: ments. About 7 'wa t t s required a t night .

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-7-OS0 ACCOMPLISHMEWS

oso-IOSO-I was successful ly launched Mar. 7, 1962, fromCape Canaveral, T h i s pioneering observatory s a t e l l i t e hasprovided valuable sc ient i f ic data f o r o ve r 1,000 of i t so r b i t s . A s the f i r s t of i t s kind, i t c l e a r l y e s t a b l i sh e dt h e c a p a b i l it y t o o r b i t s u c ce s s fu l ly a complex scient if icobservatory containing numerous independent but complex solarand astrophysical instruments.The contr ibut ion of OSO-I to the s tudy of ac t ive regionsi s i n demonstrating t h a t Extreme Ult ra-V iole t (EW) observa-t ions ca r r i ed ou t over several s o l a r r o t a t i o n s g iv e d i r e c tevidence of changing condi t ions in t h e corona above an activeregion,On OSO-I, th e average atmospheric temperature and approxi-mate densi ty of the upper atmosphere between 1 2 4 and 248s t a t u t e miles were determined a t sunr ise and sunset for aperiod of one week each of h igh and low l eve l s of so la r a c t i -v i t y , The r esu l t s ob ta lned by observ ng t h e a t t enua t ion of

E W spectrometer showed some disagreement w i t h the oldermodels of t h e atmospheroe. For example, th e d i f f e r en ce i ntemperature between sunrise and sunset was not as much asobtained from the s a t e l l i t e drag r e s u l t s .s ol a r spectrum l i n e s f rom 170 t o 400 i w i th the Goddard solar

I n another s tudy, da i l y values of atmospheric tempera-ture have been compared with E W r ad ia t ion data and a lso w i t hind ice s of geomagnetic a c t i v i t y, The ana lys i s of both phasesand amplitudes favors t h e E W r a t h e r than th e s o la r winde f f e c t as being pr inc ipa l ly r espons ib le fo r t h e 27-day varia-t i on s i n atmospheric temperature f o r t h e months of March andA p r i l 1962,Also on O S O - I a number of " w a r m " spots which l i e belowt h e lower Van Allen b e l t were observed by th e Universi ty ofCalifornia Lawrence Radiation Laboratory proton-electron

experiment. These were observed a t th e s a t e l l i t e a l t i t u d eof 357 s t a t u t e miles between the l a t i t u d e s of 33 degreesN and 33 degrees S o

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Some of th e major resul ts are:- There are no r a p i d changes i n the br ightness of th eslqy as seen from above th e airglow layer , Changesi n days t o weeks of as much as 30 p e r cent aredef in i t e ly ru led ou t ,- From the standpoint of space astronomy, OSB-I1obsekvations show that th e zodiacal l i g h t w i l l beth e principal contaminant for o r b i t i n g observator ies ,and t ha t i t 3.8 comparable w i t h t h e sky b r i g h t n e s sfrom th e graund9 where both th e airg low and zo dia call i g h t cam3ine t o form t h e background.- There is no appreciable cont r ibu t ion to t h e zodiacall i g h t from a local (geocentr ic) Claud o f dust .

The majority ( a t l e a s t 8Q per cen t ) of th e airglowi n our op t ic al bandwidth of about 4,000 t o6,OQB ar i ses i n th e 56-statute-mile layer.-

I1- The a i q l o w shows meteorological" day-to-day va ria tio nsi n br igh tness and color of about one astronomicalmagnitude, whhch seem t o be uncorre la ted w i t h l a t i t u d e ,longitude, or time of nigh t .- T h e sca l e of the a i rg low pat tern i s very much l i k et h e sca l e of a meteorological system, i . e . : of t h eorder of 1,000 miles,

O S O - X U , launched Mar. 8, 1967, has been an outstandingsuccdss., B Q t h tape recorders operated sa t i sfactor i ly f ramtime 0% launch unti l they failed May 26, 1967, and June 28,1968; A I 1 nine of th e experiments operated as designed.However, two of th e experiments which had m e t t h e i r s c i e n t i f i cob je ct ive s have ceased operation,The Goddard Space F l i g h t Center p inted-experime t h a s .

two spect ometers which coverion chambers which monitor the 2 t o 8 17 and 10 t o 20 aa

egions af t h e s o l a r spec tt h e mnge o f about I. t o 4 F%d8 t o 25incidence spectrometer which covers th e 20 t o 400 por t ionof the spectrum. , and a g azing-more-


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-9-The grat ing spectrometer can be stagped on any desiredl i n e and observations made,,on t h e changes of i n t en si ty i nthe s e le c te d l i n e t o g iv e l i g h t curves. The comparisonof l i g ht curve.s f o r spe ct r a l l i ne s Of various elements andof var ious le ve ls of i an iza t ion w i l l be very important i nunderstanding the mechanism of t r anspor t of energy throught h e corona generated by solar i b C t i V i t Y . I n ad d it i o n t o i t ss c i e n t i f i c v a lu e, t h e X-ray data a re forwarded to t h e FlareWarning Network of Environmental Science Services Administra-t i o n (ESSA).s c i e n t i f i c d at a as of June 12, 1968. Of p a r t i c u l a r i n t e r e s tt o s c i e n t i s t s h ave been t h e observations of t h e changes i nt h e ul t raviole t spect rum dur ing th e s o l a r f l a r e s . Twomodera tely s tr on g new emiss ion l i n e s have been observed duringmoderately large f l a r e s .

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These instruments were s t i l l providing good

The poin t ing se c t ion a l s o has a scanning spectrometerused as a monochromator and provided by th e A i r ForceCambridge Research Laboratories . T h i s instrument operatedsu cc es sf ul ly f o r more than s i x mo t h s . I t scanned th e s o l a rspectrum from about 250 t o 1 300 ! nd rovided solar spec t r athe instrument had no s p a t i a l resolut fon.of t h e bes t r eproduc ib i l i ty 0 date i n eh i s region, although

I n ad d i t io n t o o b ta in in g so l a r sp ec t ra , t h i s experimentmeasured th e atmospheric absorption of the s o l a r u l t r a v i o l e tas a funct io n of l at i t ud e, season and he igh t s i n t he atmos-phere. These data are ext remely s igni f icant for aeronomysince from' these absorpt ion spectra the physical processesoccurr ing I n t he upper atmosphere can be s t u d i e d i n d e t a i l .The University of Michigan has, i n the wheel sec t ion ,an ion c amber that measures t h e in tegra ted sq l a r f l u from

not a l l large i n c r ea se s i n t h e f l u x c o r r e l a t e w e l l w i t hop t i ca l and radio observat ions of s o l a r a c t i v i t y . I t hasbeen observed t h a t a l l o p t i c a l f l a r e s produce X-rays. Onth e o t h e r hand, out of 42 X-ray events observed before m i d -September i n th e "quick look" data, only 36 were cor re la tedw i t h o p t i c a l f l a r e s . Also, there i s a large range of X-rayenhancements f o r a f l a r e of given importance. I n add it io nt o i t s research value, t h i s information is also providedt o the Space Disturbance Laboratory of t h e EnvironmentalScience Services Administration.

8 t o 12 I? . Some in t e r e s t i n g var ia ti on s have been found;

The Universi ty of Cal i fornia a t San Diego has, i n t h ewheel sec t ion , a sodium iod ide sc in t i l l a t io n coun ter t od e t e c t solar and c e le s t i a l X-rays from about 7 t o 190 ki lo -volts. Th i s experiment has produced some i n t e r e s t i n g andimpor tan t r esu l t s for so la r phys ics.-more-


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-10-In t h i s ene rg y range the Sun i s character ized by i t sv a r i a b i l i t y -- the re exi s t s no "quie t" Sun. Studies haveal so been made of the r i s e tlme of s o l a r X-ray bursts andof the cor re la t ion of the spectrwn w i t h b u r s t a c t i v i t y ,The l a t t e r shows that the more 1n te ns e . th e burs t , the harder theX-rays .The Massachusetts In 5 t i t u t e of Technology has, i n th ewheel sect ion, 8 gamma-ray telescope for the de tec t ion ofc e l e s t i a l gamma-ray sources with energies above 50 MeV.experiment requires extremely long observation t b e s as t h ete lescope detects on the average about 1 photon per day fromt h e sky and about 200 per day from the Ear th . As a r e s u l t ,t h e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of data from t h i s experiment i s j u s tbeginning, However, one extremely s ign i f i can t observa t ionc l e a r l y has been made. !Phe cen t e r o f our galaxy is a sourceof gamma-rays of energy greater than 50 MeV.for models of ga l ac t i c s t r uc t u re and evo lu t ion , and t h eo r i e son the energet ics of cosmic radiation.

This

T h i s i s Important

The University of Rochester has, i n the wheel seot ion,a particle-count$ng telescope t o s tudy so la r and g a l a c t i chigh energy cosmic rays. As t h i s experiment also has a 'verylow counting rate, it too needa a long l i fe t l me fo r goodstat ist ics. An upper l i m i t t o th e i s o t r o p i c flux of hardgamma-rays (energi es higher than 50 MeV) has been determinedand i s a f a c t o r of three lower than the lbit determined fromea r l i e r o bser va ti on s , For very high energy par t i c l e s theproton (hydrogen nuclei) spectrum seems t o be f l a t t e r thanthe alpha p a rt i c l e (helium nu cl ei ) spectrum. There is anind ica t ion tha t the r a t i o of hydrogen t o helium in cre as es w i t hincreases w i t h energy for these very energet ic nuclei .OSO-zv

OSO-IV, launched O c t , 18, 1967, car r ied ins t rumentat ionfor nine experiments,to r i ly from time of l au nch u n t i l they fa i led on March 15, 1968,and 12, 1968. A l l nine of the experiments opera ted asdesigned. However, one o f these experinents has ceased opera-t i o n @

Both tape recorders operated sa t i sfac-

There are three experlments in th e point ing sect ion ofOSO-IV.A scanning spectrometer provided by the Harvard CollegeObservatory was able to scan th e so la r spectrum i n the 300t o 3,300 R region and t o scan spat ia l ly t h e Sun a t fixedwavelengths w i t h spatial resolut ion elements of about oneminute of arc . The t h i r d pointed experiment is an X-rayspectroheliograph provided by American Science and En lneer ing,Inc.lengths from less than 5 t o above 98 Xngstroms,

A crystal spectrometer provided by the Na a1 ResearchLaboratory is sWdying solar X-rays i n the 1 t o 8 P region.

This experinent D ovides " p i u est' of the Sun fn wave--more-


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-11-The Haward College Observatory ul t raviolet spectro-hel iometer f a i l ed and was turned off about Nov, 30, 1967.Over 4,000 spe troheliograms o f th e s o l a r atmosphere between

the development and assessment of r e a l i s t i c models of th es o l a r atmosphere and w i l l prov ide ins igh t in to th e problemof energy transport through the chromosphere and corona.300 and 1,300 6i had been obtained. These data w i l l permit

The following experiments are operative and rea l t i m edata are being obtained:Naval Research Laboratory - Point ing Bragp; Crys ta lS ectrometer -- s experiment i s obtai ning moderately high-wcegifrom 1 Angstrom - 8 Anastrom. The datashow differences between emissions from a-"hottl corona and a

r e l a t i v e l y l o w temperature corona.American Science and Engineering - Point ing X-RaySpectroheliograph -- Thi experiment obtains spectroheliogramsi n th e s o f t X-ray region from below 8 Angstrom t o abo ut 70Angstrom. It i s providing signif icant information on hots p o ts i n the s o l a r corona and valua ble sp ectroheliograms onthe "quiet" Sun,American Science and Engineering - Wheel X-Ray Flux Monitor --Data have been obtained which i s being used t o const ructchar t s on the background counting ra te around the world. Thisis necessary to e s t ab l i s h both the general background skyf lu x and t o as ce r ta in point X-ray sources In t he sky.G l o won th e dens i ty and sca le he igh t of the geocorona.

Un iv er si t College London - Wheel Total Solar X-RayE m i m d ideband -- T his experiment has obtainedvaluable data on t h e s o f t s o l ar X-ray f l ux i n f i ve bandsranging from 1 Angstrom - 70 Angstrom. I n p ar ti cu la r, t h i sexperiment has made valuable observations on the d i s t r i b u t i o nof X-ray f lux due to f l a res and shows t h e hardening of theflux caused by s o l a r a c t i v i t y ,Lawrenae Radiation Laboratory - Wheel Proton/ElectronDetector --energy d i s t r ibu t ion of charged par t i c l es in th e South At l ant icanomaly. Considerable data have been obtained which must bereduced t o obta i n pa r t ic le energy spect ra for elect rons andpro tons sepa rately .

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-12- --la rThis experimen% a l s o shows th e hardening of flux produced bys o l a r a c t i v i t y,

Iemission l ine 2 s pr:lanarily re spo nsi ble f o r hea ting of th eE a r t h t s a$mosphere i n t he neighborhood of 124 s t a t u t e m i l e s , ,Study of the fluc-t;a;atisms i n the solar emiss ion of t h i s H e l i u m11 line and a detai led study of t h e ec l i p se of t h e Sun by theatmosphere as seen by OSO-IV i s providing important informationto aeronomy and ionospheslc physics,

ointing Soanning Spectro-o longer operatllng,s wavelengths from 300Angstrom - 1,300 Angstrom, The spectroheliograms have aspa t ia l r eso lu t ion of approximately one minute by one minuteo f arc. I t 18 w i t h l n t h e cap ab i l i t y o f the experiment t oselect any wavelength desired by the experimenter on any givenscan. To date, spectroheliograms have been made i n t h e l i n e sof var ious ionic species o f oxygen, magnesitam, hydrogen andi n th e csntbbnuw. These data represent a m a j o r s tep forwardi n so l a r ph y si cs , T h i s experiment f a i l ed Novo 30, 1967*Pointing Device

A n impor tant fea ture of OSO-F i s t h a t t h e spacecra f t willhave the a b i l d t y t o perform a scan across the solar d i s ksimilar t o O S O - I 1 and OSO-IV. OSO-I and OSO -111 could onlyp o i n t d i r e c t l y a t the cen te r of the Sun, The f i l l y or ien tedexperiment sec ti on on th e s a i l o f t h e OSO-F spacecraf t hastwo modes of operat ion. In the f l r s t , ca l l ed th e pointed oror ie nt ed modeb th e experiment s ec ti o n is kept accurate lypointed a t th e cen te r of i l luminat ion of th e Sun, I n th esecond mode, c al le d the r a s t e r mode, the or ien ted sec t ion i smade to perform a raater scan of the en t i r e so l a r d iac andpor t ions of the corona, &a i l l u s t r a t e d on page 12a, e Theoriented instruments scan the Sun in a square r as te r patternt o an azimuth angle of 40 minutes,requi re8 7.68 seconds w i l l be synchronized with the telemetryclock, One s tep I n the e leva t ion sweep w i l l occur a t the endof each azimuth sweep and one aomplete raster of the Sun w i l ltake 307,2 secondss Scanning iaa l n f t i a t e d by ground commandand I s terminated automatlcal ly by a n i g h t s i g n a l ,

The azimuth sweep which

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E(1) ACTUATD BY GROUND COMMAND( 2 ) 40 LINES, / ARC MINUTE APART(4 ) TOTAL RASTER TIME*30Z2 SECONDS(5) USED BY lM FO,!LOLY/NG XPERlMENTS~(A ) UN/VEh'S/W COCLEG LONDON-X-RAY SPCTROhFL/OGRAPH(B ) NAVAL RESEARCU LABORATORY-SOLAR XUV SPECTRG'ffElIOGRAPU (SEl ECTED WAVElff&TNS).

(3) LIN& SWEP RATE.40 ARC MfNUTE.9 PER Z68 ECONDS* . -

-'.\ \.--.\

E

\\

(1) HOh'MAl OR/NiW?ON TO W E CNTR Of THE AFPAREW(2) USER BY THE GODDARD SPAC f l / G N T CNTR-SOlAR D/SX, W/TM/M? / ARC M/MUTESOLAR X-RAY S?CTUOME)TR (SELECTED WAVUENOTU BANDS)

TIME*RTl------.6 8 SECS:T,1AE I

256 SECS.I

END OF RASTERPULSE TO SCANEXPERIMENT I1

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r------ ANGLE 40'-

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Three of 080-F s t experiments are located onthe s a i l por t ion o f t h acecra f t and w i l l b e poin t inga t the Sun, The remai F ive experiments are locatedi n compartments of the nine-sidsd r o t a t i n g wheel sectionand scan the Sun every two ~eaond631n

The experiments WBFB provided hy Universi ty CollegeLondon and t h e Univemxbty o f Leicester Joint ly , Univers i tyof P a r i s , Univerr%ityo f Go10rad0, Universi ty of Minnesota,th e Goddard Spacle Plight Center and t h e U.S. Naval ResearchLaboratory.

Point varia-t ons -- Pointed/r t h e extremesua1 regions. Mon--- Wheel/Lyman-Alpha sal o f the solar-- Wheel SolarFar gy flux i nth re 630A and 760t o 1,030~.

-- Wheel/Low EnergyG a r gamma r ad i a t i o ni n t h e 5 to 150.0- wheel/X-Ra on from 0.5t o ~ A J t o 8 A , 8 o 1 6 A and 0.1. t o 1 . 6 A .


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DELTA LAUNCH VEHICLEDelta i s a launch vehicle program of NASArs Office

of Space Science and Applications,the r e sp o n s i b i l i t y of t h e Goddard Space F l i g h t Center. TheKennedy Space Center's Unmanned Launch Operations Directorateprovides launch o per atio ns support. Delta prime contractori s t h e McDonnell Douglas C o r p ,If the launchsequence i s successful , i t w i l l be the 60th success F o r t h eworkhorse rocket.

Project management i s

OSO-F w i l l be t h e 64th Delta launching,

Delta Stat i s t iosThe three-stage Delta f o r the OSO-F mission i s theHeight : 92 fee t ( includ ing shroud)

DSV-3C/FW-4 configuration. It has the fo l lowing charac te r i s t i cs

Maximum Diameter: 8 fee tLif t -o f f Weight: about 75 tonsLif t-off Thrust: l 7 2 , O O O pounds

F i r s t Sta e * Modified Air Force Thor, produced by McDonnellh i ? . # engines produced by Rocketdyne Division ofNorth American Rockwell Corp,Diameter: 8 f ee tH e i g h t : 51 fee tPropel lants : RP-1 kerosene i s used as t h e fue l andliquid oxygen (LOX) i s u t i l i z e d as t h eoxidizer ,Thrust: l72,OOO poundsBurning Time : 2 min. 29 sec ,Weight: more than 50 tons.

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Second Stage: Produced by the McDonnell Douglas Corp,;u t i l i z i n g t h e A er oj et General Corp. propulsion system;major cont ractors for the au t o p i l o t are Honeywell, Inc.,Texas Instruments, Inc,, and Ele ct ros ol lds Corp,Diameter: 2.7 fee tHeight: 20.6 fee tPro pe lla nts : Liquid Unsymmetrical Dimethyl Hydrazine( U r n ) f o r the fu e l and Inh ib i t ed RedFuming N i t r i c Acid ( IRFNA) f o r th e oxid i r e r .Thrust: about 7,500 poundsBurningtime,: 2 mine 31 sec.Weight: 24 tonshida nce : Western El ec t r i c Co.

Thi r d Stage: United Technology Center FW 4 motorDiameter: 14 FeetHeight: 53 fee tPropellants: s o l i dThrust: 5,600 poundsBurning t i m e : 23 see.Weight: 660 pounds

Observatory SeparationUpon completion of t h i r d stage burnout, b u t beforespacecraf t separat ion, three arms on t h e OSO-F spacecraf textend,After spacecraf t separat ion, t h e de-spin system i sactuated by a signal from th e spacecraf t timer and t h e space-c r a f t s pi n rate is slowed t o the desired 30-40 rpm.

Sun. About 20 minutes a f t e r lift-off, OSO-F aaqu i res the-more-


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-16-

6.rk0.Hz

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OS0 TEAMNASA HEADQUARTERSJesse L, Mitchel l

6 , D, AshworthE. Bo StubbsD r . H. GlaserJoseph MahonRobert ManvilleGODDARD SPACE FLICCHT CENTERDr. John F, Cla rkJohn M, TholeD r , William E, BehrlngW i l l i a m R. Sch ind le rKENNEDY SPACE CENTERK u r t DebusRobert H. GrayHugh A. Weston,BAU BRS RESEARCH CORP,D r , R e C, MercureR, Marsh

Direc tor , Physics andAstronomy Programs,Of f ice of' Space Scienceand Applicat ionsProgram Manager f o r SolarObservator iesOS0 Program EngineerOS0 Program ScientistDirector, Launch Vehicleand Propulsion ProgramsDelta Program Manager

Di rec to rOS0 Pr oj ec t Manager (A cti ng )oso Prodect S c i en t i s t (Ac t ingDelea Project Manager

Di rec to rDirector, Unmanned LaunchOperat ionsManager, Delta Operations

Vice PresidentOS0 Program Manager

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McDO~JNEZL-DOUOLAS CORP.MarcuB F, CooperJ. Kline

Dlrector, Florida TestCenter, Cape KennedyDelta System8 Engineer.

OSO-F Press Kit

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Transcript of OSO-F Press Kit