37

,t 63 191376-s/;
N EWS R ELEASE
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
400 MARYLAND AVENUE, SW, WASHINGTON 25, D.C.
TELEPHONES. WORTH 2-4155-WORTH 3.6925
FOR RELEASE: Friday
July 19, 1963
RELEASE NO: 63-152

SECOND SYNCOM SCHEDULED FOR LAUNCH

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration

will attempt to launch another Syncom active repeater
communications satellite into near synchronous orbit
no earlier than July 23 from Cape Canaveral. If

successful it will be the first satellite to operate

in the 24-hour orbit 22,300 miles above the earth.

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Syncom I, launched February 14, 1963, achieved a

near synchronous orbit according to visual observations.

However, radio contact w.ith the spacecraft has not been

possible sinc- L.ne apogee motor was fired to insert it into

circular trbit at synchronous altitude.

Syncom will be boosted to the orbital altitude by a

Delta launch vehicle. Should this launch be successful its

v.ill be the 19th straight success for the Delta. Upon

:.eaching apogee the satellite will be injected into the

synchronous orbit by a solid rocket motor attached to the

pDaeecraft. Ones in the synchronous orbit and at the desired
location Syncom will stay at approximately the samve longitude

over the Atlantic Ocean while moving in latitude in an

elongated figure 8 pattern approximtately 30 degrees north
and couth of the equator.

The Government of the Federation of Nigeria is making

an Important contrir)ution to the project by permitting the
stationing of' the USNS Kingsport in Lagos Harbor and making
other facilities available.

Communications tests will be conducted between a

transpo'table ground station at Lakehurst, N.J., and a

station aboard the Kingsport. The satellite will be capable

of transmitting one two-way telephot..o calls teletype messages

or photo facsimile. The number of teletype messages will
depend on she type of equipment employed by the ground stations.
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Oblectives of_2.com
1. Develop capability of launching satellites into the
24-hour orbit using exf.sting launch vehicles plus additional
solid fuel "apogee-kick" rockets.
2. Fligit test a new approach to satellite attitude
and period control.
3. Provide experience in using communications satel-
lites in a 24-hour orbit.

Syncom, if successful, will usher in a new approach to

spacecraft attitude and velocity control. It will be the

first space communications link to Africa.

Syncom is a NASA project supported by the Department of

Defense which is providing ground stations ard will conduct

communications experiments to meet NASA requirements. NASA

provides the spacecraft, the Delta launch vehicle, telemetry

and command ground stations. NASA's Goddard Space Flight

Center manages the project under the overall supervision of
NASA Headquarters.

Launch

The Delta launch vehicle will boost the Syncom to an al-

titude of about 140 miles where the spacecraft will enter an
elliptical orbit. The Delta will be launched in an azimuth

direction of about 108 degrees from Cape Canaveral.

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Just before the third stage of the Delta fires it is

given a spin rate of approximately 150 rpm so that the

attitude of the satellite and its apogee mnotor will be

maintained correctly as it coasts toward apogee following

separation, A timer aboard the spacecraft is set to fire

the apogee motor some 5i hours after injection into the

elliptical orbit at perigee. The motor can also be fired

on command from the ground.

Sequence of Events

The entry into synchronous orbit is scheduled to

take place over the coast of Mozambique, East Africa.

However, the final planned position for Syncom is over

the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and South America.

Moving Syncom westward to the desired location is one

task of the spacecraft's jet control system. The ground

stations on the day following apogee motor firing will

determine whether Syncom is drifting eastward or westward

and at what rat-. If it is drifting westward at the

correct speed no corrections will be made. Otherwise a

hydrogen peroxide rccket motor aboard the satellite will

be comm;andcd to move Syncom westward at the desired drift

rate of 4.6 degrees per day. Aproximately three days after

launCh reorieentation will begin. This will be accomplished

by operation of a second jet control system which will

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realign the satellite's spin axis so that it is

perpendicular to the plane of the orbit and the satellite

antenna is in its operational attitude. This control

system uses nitrogen under pressure and its operation

to reorient the satellite will reduce the drift rate

to 3" degrees per day. The satellite's motion will be

measured by the ground stations and, if required, additional

corrections will be made by another nitrogen jet or

alternatively by a second peroxide jet.

If everything goes well the satellite will reachi

the desired longitude (40 degrees west) approximately

18 days after launch. The control system will then be

used to adjust the satellite's velocity to stop the drift

so that the satellite will be synchronous and over the

desired meridian of longitude. However, it is expected

to be in position for communications testing--ship,

satellite, Lakehurst and returr--about eight days after

launch.

In its final location in orbit Syncom will not be

in a truly stationary orbit. This would require that

the orbit be circular and in perfect alignment with the

plane of the equator in addition to having a period of

24 hours. Syncom is designed only to meet the 24-hour

orbital-period requirements.

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The satellite's transmitting antenna, a coaxial

slot array, transmits to ground at 1815 mc.

On the ground, signals are intercepted by two 30-

foot parabolic antennas. One is at Lakehurst, New Jersey,

the other aboard the Kingsport. Parametric amplifier

receivers are used.

Ground station transmitters deliver 20 kw at 7360 mc,

and are frequency modulated with a bandwidth up to 80 kc.

Ground station receiver bandwidths are 100 kc maximum.

Ground stations of the U.S. Army Satellite Communications

Agency under NASA direction will conduct the communications

experiments designed for Syncom. The overall Syncom

system will be able to conduct two-way telephone, teletype

and facsimile transmission but not television.

Public demonstrations may be conducted, depending on

the condition of the spacecraft, after the satellite

reaches its final destination in orbit and is checked out.

Operational control of the Syncom spacecraft is exercised

from the Communicationr. Spacecraft Control Center (COPISOC)

at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland,

which is in constant communication by teletype and telephone

with the communications ground stations and tracking stations.

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 Tracking is carried out by the Syncom communications

ground stations, employing a range and range rate system

supplied by Space Technology Laboratories under NASA

contract. The Space Tracking and Data Acquisition Network

(STADAN) will also track the satellite to provide important

early-time data and provide a back-up capability. Specialized

project telemetry and command equipment developed by Hughes

Aircraft Company under contract will be used at the ground

stations to receive telemetry on the attitude and operating

condition of the satellite, and to command operation of

its various functions including control of the hydrogen

peroxide rocket motor and nitrogen gas jets.

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The 24-Hour Orbit

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will

launch the Syncom satellite as part of its program in develop-
ing a capability of placing satellites into 24-hour orbits
22,300 miles above the earth.

NASA does not intend to place Syncom in an equatorial

orbit but rather in an orbit inclined about 30 degrees to
the equator. BeccL1s2 of this Syncom will not be stationary
but will appear to trace an elongated figure 8 over the
Atlantic Ocean between Africa and South America every 24
hours. It will travel from about 30 degrees north of the
equator to 30 degrees south of the equator while tracing
this pattern over the surface of the earth, but will always
stay within a few degrees of longitude.

Later synchronous satellites are planned to be placed

into 24-hour equatorial orbits. These satellites would appear

to be stationary above a point on the equator and are usually

referred to as stationary satellites. Three stationary

satellites equally spaced in such a 24-hour equatorial orbit

would give a near global communications capability. If

lower-altitude random-orbit satellites are used, as many as

50 might be needed for global comnunications.

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Another advantage of a stationary satellite is that it

requires less elaborate and costly ground equipment than

does the lower altitude satellite system since the ground

antenna system would require no extensive provision for

tracking. In addition, a synchronous satellite can operate

on solar power most of the time since 995 of the time it is

in the sunlight. No active temperature control system is

needed and fewer batteries are required, resulting in weight

savings.

Synchronous satellites have less complex problems of

power supply and thermal control than some others. However,

they are inherently more complex than communications

satellites in lower orbits need to be.

Spacecraft Facts

Syncom, without antennas or apogee motor, is a cylinder

28 inches in diameter and 151 inches high. The apogee motor

rocket nozzle protrudes from one end, communications antennas

from the other. Weight of the spacecraft, including the apogee

motor case with all the fuel gone, is 36 pounds. Payload

weight is 147 pounds at separation from the third stage of

the Delta launch vehicle.

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The side surface of Syncom is covered with 3840 silicon

solar cells which supply energy to the nickel cadmium
batteries.

The satellite's outer structure supports the solar

panels and contains the nitrogen and hydrogen peroxide gas

control systems and most of the satellite's electronics.
An inner structure supports the apogee motor and the remaining
electronics.

Antennas include a slotted array antenna for communi-

cations transmission, a dipole for communication receiving
and four whip antennas in a turnstile arrangement for
telemetry and command.

Syncom has a passive temperature control system. Adequate

temperature control is achieved by the design and materials
used on the external surface and by properly insulating
sub-system equipment.

Control Systems

Syncom's control in orbit is achieved through a nitrogen

gas control system and a hydrogen peroxide system. Two
pressurized spherical tanks mounted opposite each other and
connected by a manifold contain the gases for each system.

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 Each control system has two jets. One jet fires

parallel to the spin axis and the other perpendicular to

the axis. The nitrogen system contains about 1.7 pounds of
nitrogen at 2500 psi and the other system contains 5 pounds
of 90% hydrogen peroxide pressurized to 200 psi by nitrogen.
The nitrogen system has a total correction capability of
about 47 feet per second and the hydrogen peroxide system
has a correction capability of about 300 feet per second.
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Electronics

Most electronic subsystems on Syncom are duplicative.

Included are transponders with two traveling-wave tube
transmitters and two receivers, either receiver of which
may be used with either transmitter. One receiver has two

narrowband channels, each with a noise bandwidth of 500 kc.

The other has a noise bandwidth of 5 me. Syncom's receiver
noise figure is lOdb; antenna gain is 2 db through a skirted
dipole antenna.

The antenna receives signals from ground stations on

two frequencies near 7360 me, and supplies them to one of
the two receivers. At any one time, only one of the re-
ceivers operates; the one chosen is selected by command.

Two-way communications can pass through either receiver.

The receiver then drives one of the two transmitters, the

traveling wave tube of which delivers two watts to the antenna
at a frequency of 1815 me. The transmitter also provides a
100 milliwatt tracking beacon signal at 1820 mc.

The total transponder power consumption is 16 watts. A

transponder weighs eight pounds, including the traveling wave
tube and high voltage power supply.

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B3esides acting as a beacon and a communications

tr-anspunder, Synco>.-'s communication system will also trans-

pond signals to measure range and range-rate of the satel-

lite to determine its orbit.

The transmittin- antenna, located on the spin axis and

opposite teic apogee motor, is a slotted array of dipoles and

has a gainl of 5.' db. It radiates a pancake-shaped beam with

its plane perpendicular to the spacecraft's spin axis. The

beam covers toe earth at all points in line of sight.

The turnstile antenna will be used for both conmand and

telemetry. Telemetry data to be transmittod include tempera-

tues; power supply voltage and current, signal st,'engtii at

the communication-s receiver and transmitter; solar sensor's

u\Itput ; and pressure ol nitrogen and hydrogen peroxide gas

systeas.

Nineteen analo-; and pu:lse signals v.ill. be telemetered

[rolim the encoders. Analog inputs will be sequentially

mullti.p:lexed, Jour clhannels per second, onto a frequency-

modulated sub-carrier oscillator with a 14'5 Icc center fre-

quency. SUIn sensor and accelerometer outputs, directly

modulate the telemetry transmitter.

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The two i13 mc command receivers are identical.

Each has its o'n mixer, i-f amplifier an, AM. letector. The
hybrid network allows command receivers and telemetry
systems to share the turnstile antenna which has a minimum
of -4.5 db gain. Commands to be transmitted to SYNCOM from
ground stations include telemetry and -munications system
switching, gas jet firing, and apogee mf.tor firing.

The command decoders consist of the circu-itry required

to process the ground commands. Ei.ectronics are turned on
or off with 12 command signals; another 13 commands are used
for control.

An audio tone is supied to one of three channels 'n

each decouer, the enable channel. When this channel detects
t-e tone, a switch connects the other two channels, the logic
and execute channels. The logic channel sets up the coriand
on receiving the proper number of pulses fropm the ground.
The command is set up and verified by telemetry before the
command is execuied.

Power supply is intended to supply about 25 watts at

28 vojts.

Flanges in Syncom Since First Launch

Several changes have been made in the Syncom spacecraft
following the experience with Syncom I. They are:

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1. A small silver-zinc battery has been installed

to supply power to operate a second beacon aid telemetry

system for about 30 to 40 minutes in the event of a failure

in the primary power supply.

2. The power distribution system has been changed so

that there are redundant paths for supplying power to each

system of the satellite.

3. An accelerometer has been installed to measure accel-

eration levels during burning of the apogee kick motor.

4. A Jet Propulsion Laboratory Starfinder solid propel-

lant motor is being used instead of the Tfliokol TE _75 used

in Syncorn I for the a.pcgee kick stage. The JPL motor is

specifically configured for the Syncom wnile the Thiokol|

motor was adapted from a mooior designed for another use.

5. Clearances between the nitrogen tanks and the space-

craft structure have been increased to avoid contact and the

possibility of damage to the tank and structure by forces

encountered from vibration during the apogee stage firing.

In addition, several tests were conducted to investizate

possible sources of the power failure on Syncom I.

These tests include:

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1. Firing of the Thiokol and JPL motors on spacecraft

mounted on test stands in the vacuum chamber at Tullahoma,
Tennessee.

2. Firing of the JPL apogee motor on a centrifuge.

3. Fracture testing of the titanium nitrogen tanks.

The latter test gave an indication that a nitrogen tank

failure could have led to the power failure in Syncom I.
Although it probably never will be known for sure wihat caused
the Syncom I power failure, technicians say that either an
electrical failure or a nitrogen tan'c failure is a plausible
cause,
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2he Syncom Team

The Nauional Aeronautics and Space Administration is re-

sponsible for the Syncom Project. Development and operational

phases ol LShe project are directed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight

Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.

Design and construction of the Syncom spacecraft was ac-

complished under NASA contract by Hughes Aircraft Company, Cul-

ver City, California, under the technical direction of Goddard.

Responsible for the ground communications equipment is The Bendix

Corporation under contract with the Department of Defense for

NASA.

Prime contractor for the Delta vehicle is Douglas Aircraft

Company, Inc., Santa Monica, California, which is also respon-

sible for pre-launch and launch operations. Logistic support

is provided by the Atlantic Missile Range.

Key officials responsible for the Syncom Project are:

NASA HEADQUARTERS

Robert F. Garbarini, Director, Office of Applications

Leonard Jaffe, Director Communications Systems, Office of
Applications
Robert E. Warren, Deputy Director, Communications Systems,
Office of Applications
J. R. Burke, Syncom Project Officer, Office of Applications
John J. Kelleher, Chief, Communication Satellite Systems
Operations Division, Office of Applicr'-t:ns

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GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CEFTER

Dr. Harry J. Goett, Director

Daniel G. Mazur, Chief, Spacecraft Systems and Projects Division
Robert J. Mackey, Jr.., Chief, Spacecraft Communications
Alton E. Jones, Syncom Project Manager
Robert J. Darcey, Assistant Syncom Project Manager
Paul Karpiscak, Syncom Project Coordinator

HUGHES AIRCRAFT COMPANY

C. Gordon Murphy, Syncom Project Manager
Pr. Harold Rosen, Assistant Syncom Project Manager
D. D. Williams, Orbital Mechanics Scientist

DOUGLAS AIRCRAFT COMPANY, INCORPORATED

J. Klein, Chief Project Engineer

G. Fe Hansen, Head of AMR Field Station

The Delta Launch Vehicle

The launch vehicle for Syncom is the NASA-developed Delta,

a three-stage rocket which has performed flawlessly in the last
18 of its 19 launch attempts. Delta is nine ritories high and
weighs 57 tons.

The vehicle's first stage is a 60-foot modification of

the Air Force-developed Thor (DM-21) space booster and generates
more than 170,000 pounds of thrust duiring the two-minute, 25-
second period its 50 tons of propellant burn.

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 The second stage is 17 feet tall and weighs a little more

than two and one-half tcns. It is powered by an Aerojet-General

liquid engine which develops 7,500 pounds of thrust and burns

slightly more than two minutes.

Delta's one-quarter ton solid propellant third stage is five

feet high and uses an Allegany Ballistics Laborator7 ABL 248

engine with a thrust rating of 3,000 pounds. Its burning time

is 40 seconds.

For a minute and a half after lift-off, Delta is guided

by its Thor auto-pilot. At that point, a Bell Telephone Labora-

tories radio guidance system makes refined velocity and steering

corrections as needed. Shortly after first stage burn-out and

separation, and after ignition of the second stage, the fairing

(covering the third stage and the Syncom payload) is jettisoned.

Second stage burning ends about five and one-quarter minutes

after lift-off. .,he vehicle with second and third stages still

attached is now at an altitude of about 125 miles, At this point

a 40-second coast period occurs. During this period, guidance

is provided by a 42-pound flight corntrol systeim contained in

the second stage. The satellite and the third stage are "spun

up" by small rockets mounted on a "spin table" between the second

and third stages. At the end of the coast period the second stage

separates, and third stage ignition occurs. Soon the required

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orbital velocity of 17,000 miles per hour is reached. The payload,

now in the preliminary or "perigee" phase of its transfer orbit
is more than 151 miles above the earth and 1,000 miles from Cape
Canaveral.

Program manager for the Delta is T. B. Norris, of the NASA

Headquarters. The Goddard Delta vehicle manager Is William R.
Schindler. Robert H. Gray heads the Goddard Field Projects
Branch at Cape Canaveral.

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Syncom Ground Stations

The space-age electronic surface facilities of the U.S.

Army Satellite Communications (SATCOM) Agency, Fort Monmouth,

New Jersey, will send signals through 22,300 miles of space

to test the "talking" capabi ities of this nation's newest

communications satellite, NASA's Syncom.

Because of its experience gained in previous satellite

communications projects, and because of the facilities it has

already developed, the SATCOM Agency was seI - <1 to support

NASA iln this pioneering space effort by providing the surface

terminals and conducting the space communications experiments.

Although Syncom is a synchronous orbit satellite, the

SATCOM Agency's role includes development of facilities for

communicating through random orbit satellites as well. Ter-

minals the Agency has previously developed have been modified

to support the Syncom program.

Synchronous Orbit Communications

The USNS Kingsport is scheduled to transmit the first

historic communication through Syncom, on a loop circuit,

once the satellite is oriented in its synchronous orbit. The

successful completion of the 45,000-mile loop circuit will

be the first demonstration of communications via a satellite

in the synchronous orbit.

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The theory was virtually demonstrated in February during

the launch of the first Syncom satellite. Just before it a-

chieved apogee and separation from its booster, about five

hours after launch, a series of tone-voice-music test messages
was transmitted from the Kingsport to the satellite. Even

though Syrntom was 20,000 miles high at the time (and still
climbing) and even though its communications antenna was not
favorably oriented toward the earth, the return messages from
the satellite were reciLved back at the Kingsport.

The Kingsport

The ship station is a former World War II Victory ship

which was transformed into a seagoing satellite communica-
tions laboratory last year by the Navy Bureau of Ships under
the SATCOM Agency's direction.

The 11,000-ton Kingsport has a 10,000-mile range at a

sustained speed of 15 knots. This mobility will enable sci-

entists and technicians to gain valuable and extensive data

on satellite communications capabilities from fringe angle
areas, over various combinations of land and water, and un-
der differing hemispheric and atmospheric conditions.

The ship's satellite communications and tracking anten-

na, which features a 30-foot parabolic reflector, is gyro-
stabilized on three axes and is housed beneath a hypalon-

coated ducron radome on the deckhouse aft.

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Air-Transportable Terminal

'he second link in the Syncom test network has been

located at the Lakehurst, New Jersey, Naval Air Station.
This termirawl is composed of 11 wheeled vehicles which can
be transported by train, ship, or cargo plane to various
points around the globe.

The terminal at Lakehurst features a 30-foot parabolic

reflector antenna. It is being operated for this NASA
research and development activity by highly trained communi-
cations specialists provided for the purpose by the DOD.

Transatlantic Hookup Via Syncom

Once Syncom has achieved orbit and successful communi-

cations have been demonstrated on a loop circuit from the
USNS Kingsport, the satellite's drift will carry it westward
over the Atlantic Ocean at a rate of approximately two
degrees a day. When Syncom reaches a point .En radio line-of-
sight o' the SATCOM terminal at Lakehurst, test messages
will be exchanged between the continents of North America
and Africa, via satellite.

When Syncom reaches its desired location it Will be

usable almost 90 percent of the time for transoceanic
communications and a planned program of space communications
experiments will be conducted on a comparatively uninterrupted
basis between Lakehurst and the ship in Lagos Harbor or at
sea.
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Fixed Terminal Station

A few miles southwest of the Lakehurst Terminal is the

SATCOM Agency's fixed terminal station at Fort Dix, New
Jersey. This station is a permanently emplaced high precision
research facility as opposed to the air-transportable tenrinal.
The Fort Dix station, and an electronic twin facility construct-
ed at Camp Roberts, California, feature 60-foot parabolic reflector
antennas which possess a tracking accuracy of .024 degrees.

The Fort DiX Zround station will be monitoring all the

activities of the Lakehurst terminal in the Syncon. experiments.
After Syncom's signal link between the ship and Lakcehurst has
been established, and the communications system of the satellit-
has been tested and evaluated, it is planned to exercise the
Fort Dix station withl the satellite. The station at Camp Roberts

w.fill not be in line-of-sight of the satellite during this phase

of the Syncom program.

Test Operations Center

The communications experiments used to test and evaluate
the capabilities of Syncom as a signal relay point will be
managed in behalf of the NASA from the SATCOM Agency's Test
Operations Center, located at Agency Headquarters, Fort Monmouth,
New Jersey. Here SATCOM Agency Commander, Brlg. Gen. J. Wilson
Johnston; Technical Director, Samuel P. Brown; and the Agency's
technical-engineering staff assigned to the project will direct
and implement the communications test series that has been

programmed.
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The satellite communications performance tests

planned include single channel voice, single channel
teletype, multi-channel audio, multi-channel teletype, simul-
taneous voice and teletype, facsimile, phase delay and other
variations to determine system capacity, fidelity and level
of quality under varying conditions.

The success of the current attempt to demonstrate

synchronous orbit satellite communications will depend not
only on orbiting a workable satellite package; to a large
extent, success will depend on the accuracy and reliability
of the surface terminal facilities.

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