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TDRS-3

TDRS-3, known before launch as TDRS-C, is a first-generation American communications satellite, which is operated by NASA as part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. It was constructed by TRW and is based on a custom satellite bus, which was used for all seven first-generation TDRS satellites.[4]

Launch

The TDRS-C satellite was launched aboard during the STS-26 mission in 1988; the first Shuttle flight since the Challenger disaster which had resulted in the loss of the previous TDRS satellite, TDRS-B. Discovery launched from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center at 15:37:00 UTC on 29 September 1988.[5] TDRS-C was deployed from Discovery around six hours after launch, and was raised to geostationary orbit by means of an Inertial Upper Stage.[5]

Deployment

The two-stage solid-propellent Inertial Upper Stage made two burns. The first stage burn occurred shortly after deployment from Discovery, and placed the satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. At 04:30 UTC on 30 September 1988, it reached apogee, and the second stage fired, placing TDRS-C into geosynchronous orbit. At this point it received its operational designation. Although the TDRS-2 designation had not been assigned, TDRS-C was given the designation TDRS-3 as NASA did not want to reuse the designation which had been intended for the STS-51-L payload.[6] It was briefly placed at a longitude 151° West of the Greenwich Meridian, before being moved to 171.0° West before the end of 1988, from where it provided communications services to spacecraft in Earth orbit, including Space Shuttles. In 1990, it was relocated to 174.0° West, and again in 1991 to 62.0° West. In 1994, it returned to 171.0° West.[7][8] In June 1995, it was moved to 85.0° East, from where it was used primarily for communications with spacecraft such as the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope.[7][9] In October 2009, as NASA began decommissioning TDRS-1, TDRS-3 was moved to 49.0° West,[10] where it remains in storage as of 2020.[11]

See also

References

  1. Jonathan McDowell. SATCAT Jonathan's Space Pages, retrieved 18 March 2014^
  2. Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) Characteristics NASA, 10 September 2014, retrieved 28 July 2020^
  3. NASA – NSSDCA – Spacecraft – Trajectory Details nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov, retrieved 2 May 2018^
  4. Gunter Krebs. TDRS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Gunter's Space Page, retrieved 8 August 2009^
  5. Jonathan McDowell. Launch Log Jonathan's Space Page, retrieved 8 August 2009^
  6. Designation NASA'S Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, NASA, December 1992^
  7. TDRS 3 TSE, retrieved 8 August 2009^
  8. Jonathan McDowell. Index Geostationary Orbit Catalog, Jonathan's Space Page, retrieved 8 August 2009^
  9. The TDRS-J satellite Spaceflight Now, 1 December 2002, retrieved 8 August 2009^
  10. Stephen Clark. NASA retires 'queen' of tracking satellite fleet Spaceflight Now, 13 October 2009, retrieved 18 March 2014^
  11. Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) Fleet NASA, 11 February 2014, retrieved 18 March 2014^