Contents

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

National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 443-8243

National Aeronautics and

Space Adm inist rat ion
Washington, D.C. 20546
(202)755-8370
 N O M 78-66

RELEASE: Sunday Vital Weather Satellite Set

June 11,1978 For Launch This Week

A carefully controlled series of space maneuvers begins this week

with the scheduled launch of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-

tration satellite, and ends next winter with the start of an international

study of global weather.

The successful launch by NASA from Kennedy Space Center onFriday

, morning (June 1 6 j o f the Commerce Department agency's GOES-C geostationary
satellite is a key element in the Global Weather Experiment, a world-wide,
year-long accumulation of meteorological and oceanographic data which
begins in December.
The largest international scientific experiment in history, with
140 nations participating, the Global Weather Experiment depends upon
information collected from many sources. Oceanographic and wind observa-
tions all over the world will be made by nine satellites and scores of
ships and aircraft, while thousands of surface and upper air observations
will be made daily by several hundred buoys distributed in the Southern
Hemisphere and by conventional observation methods elsewhere on earth.
The experiment is a part of the Global Atmospheric Research Program,
sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization of the United Nations
and the International Council of Scientific Unions. It will be conducted
throughout 1979, providing scientists with millions of pieces of infor-
mation from all over the world.

The spacecraft scheduled for launch by NASA onFriday not only

w i l l p l a y a major r o l e i n p r o v i d i n g Western Hemisphere c o v e r a g e for t h e
experiment, but the launch success or failure will determine how much
important meteorological information will be available from a data-sparse
area 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 geostationary
satellite now positioned to observe much of the Pacific Ocean and the
western half of the United States. That spacecraft -- GOES-1 -- will be
moved by stages from its present position above the Equator at 135 degrees
west longitude almost halfway around the earth to about 60 degrees east
longitude.

GOES-1 first will be shifted to 15 degrees west, over the Atlantic

Ocean, 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 station
being installed in Spain by the European Space Agency will participate in
control of the spacecraft for familiarization purposes.

About the first of November, GOES-1 will be in position over the

Indian Ocean, fully under control of the Spanish station and ready to
begin providing information on December 1 for the Global Weather
Experiment.

In that experiment five geostationary satellites -- and four polar

orbiting spacecraft -- will be collecting data: GOES-1, GOES-2- above
the Equator over South America, and GOES-3; a European satellite in
position above the Equator over Western Africa; and, a Japanese spacecraft
over 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 for
October 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 launched
by the United States since 1974. Like its predecessors, it will provide
a variety of imagery of North and South America and much of the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans every half hour. The imagery is used by meteorologists
in weather forecasting, wind and cloud cover analysis, severe storm warn-
ing and hurricane tracking, and other activities. Oceanographers use
information from the spacecraft for ocean current analysis, ship routing,
and other purposes; while hydrologists find the information valuable for
snow melt and snow area determination, water resource management, and
various 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, on
buoys in the ocean, and carried aloft by balloons and aircraft. This
information is communicated by the GOES satellites to users on earth.

The spacecraft a l s o measure solar activity, detect solar flares, and

determine the intensity of solar winds. and the strength and direction of
the Earth's magnetic field.

GOES-C is scheduled for launch about 6:15 a.m. It will be boosted

into orbit by a three-stage Delta launch vehicle and initially will be -
controlled by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center at Greenbelt, Md.

GOES-C is expected to be the last NOAA geostationary satellite

to be launched by NASA atop a rocket. Three more geostationary space-
craft are planned during the next eight years, to be carried into space
on NASA's Space Shuttle, beginning with GOES-D, now anticipated to be
placed in orbit in late 1980.
Although weighing 1,385 pounds at launch, the GOES-C satellite
will be reduced in weight to 647 pounds in orbit, after the fuel in
its apogee boost motor -- which positions the spacecraft into final
orbit -- is expended. It is drum-shaped, about 7 5 inches (190 centi-
meters) in diameter, and 11 feet (3.4 meters) long.

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

Goddard Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (STDN) will provide

necessary support for the mission. The tracking stations include the
Minitrack 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 and

systems management responsibility for the spacecraft and performs in-
orbit testing of the satellite-untilit is turned over to NOAA for
operational use about 30 days after launch.

Missions and Subsystems

The GOES-Csatellite will carry five basic subsystems aloft to

accomplish a variety of missions, including:

* Providing near-continual, high-resolution visual and infrared

imaging 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 observing

platforms on land, in the ocean, and in the air;

* Measuring energetic solar particle flux, X-rays, and the

strength 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) providing

visible 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 relay
between data collection platforms and the Command and Data
Acquisition (CDA) Station at Wallops, Va.;

* Wideband Communication subsystem for transmission of wide-

band video data, "stretched" VISSR data, and weather facsimile
data; and,
* Telemetry, Tracking and Command subsystem for commanding the
spacecraft and transmitting SEM data.

##
William J. Brennan N O M Public Affairs
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 443-8243
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nELTA LAUNCH VEHICLE (2914) STATISTICS

The GOES-C spacecraft will be launched by a three-stage

Delta 2914 launch vehicle. This launching will mark the
142nd for the Delta rocket which has achieved an impressive
performance record of more than 90 per cent. The launch
vehicle has the following general characteristics:
Height: 35.4 m (116 ft.) including shroud
Maximum Diameter: 2 . 4 m (8 ft.) without attached solids
Liftoff 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 liquid
oxygen (LOX) as the oxidizer
*Thrust: 912,000 N (205,000 lb.)
Strap-on solids consist of 9 TMX-354-5 Castor I1 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 and
231,400 N (52,000 lb.) for each
Second Stage
Produced by McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co., using
a TRW T R - 2 0 1 rocket engine; major contractors for the vehicle
inertial guidance system located on the second stage are
Hamilton Standard, Teledyne and Delco. The second stage has
the following characteristics:
Height: 6.4 m (21 ft.)
Diameter: 1.5 m (5 ft.)
Propellants: Liquid, consisting of Aerozene 5 0 for
the fuel and Nitrogen Tetroxide (NzO4)
*Thrust: About 42,943 N (9,650 lb.)

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Third Stage .
J

A TE-364-4 motor produced by Thiokol Chemical Co.,

with the following characteristics:
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 for

the duration of the motor firing.
 NAJOR LAUNCH EVENTS FOR DELTA/GOES-C MISSION (BET)

Altitude Velocity
Event Time Miles/Kilometers Mph Km/Hr
Liftoff 0 sec. 0 0 0 0
S i x S o l i d Motor Burnout 38 sec. 3.9 6.3 1524 2452
T h r e e S o l i d Motor I g n i t i o n 39 sec. 3.9 6.3 1524 2452

T h r e e S o l i d Motor Burnout 1 min. 1 7 sec. 13.8 22.3 2650 4265

Nine S o l i d Motor J e t t i s o n 1 min. 2 7 sec. 16.8 27 2865 4611
Main E n g i n e C u t o f f (MECO) 3 min. 4 1 sec. 57 92 12059 19408

First/Second Stage 3 min. 49 sec. 61 98 12074 19432

Separation
, Second S t a g e I g n i t i o n 3 min. 54 sec. 63 102 12060 19408
P
Fairing Jettison 4 n i n . 31 sec. 78 125 12440 20021
I

F i r s t C u t o f f S t a g e I1 8 min. 48 sec. 105 170 17544 28235

(SECO-1)
R e s t a r t S t a g e I1 20 min. 5 1 sec. 111 179 17514 28185

F i n a l C u t o f f - S t a g e I1 2 1 min. 03 sec. 111 179 17814 28669

(SECO-2)
T h i r d S t a g e Spinup 2 2 min. 03 sec. 113 182 17809 28660

Second/Third S t a g e 2 2 min. 05 sec. 113 182 17808 28660

Separation
Third Stage I g n i t i o n 2 2 min. 46 sec. 114 184 17802 28650

T h i r d S t a g e Burnout 2 3 min. 29 sec. 117 189 22973 36973

Spacecraft Separation 2 4 min. 43 sec. 139 223 22905 36861

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DELTA/GOES-C TEAM

NOM

David S. Johnson Director, National Environmental Satellite

Service

Clifford A. Spohn Deputy Director, NESS

George H. Ludwig Director, Office of Operations, NESS

E. Larry Heacock Director, Office of Systems Integration, NESS

Edward W. Mowle Geostationary System Group Head, NESS

Edward W. Bisone Spacecraft Coordinator, NESS

Frank H. Eastman Payload Coordinator, NESS

Shelia Frye Goddard Liaison Administrative Asst., NESS

NASA Headquarters

John F. Yardley Associate Administrator for Space Transportation

Systems

Joseph B. Mahon Director, Expendable Launch Vehicle Programs

Peter Eaton Manager, Delta Launch Vehicles

Goddard Space Flight Center

Dr. Robert S. Cooper Director

Robert E. Smylie Deputy Director

Robert Lindley Director of Projects

Robert Baumann Assistant Director for

Space Transportation Systems

David Grimes Delta Project Manager

William R. Russell Deputy Delta Project Manager,

Technical

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Rob er t Go s s Mission A n a l y s i s and I n t e g r a t i o n

Manager, Delta P r o j e c t

Frank Lawrence Delta Mission I n t e g r a t i o n Manager

Robert H. Pickard P r o j e c t Manager, GOES-C

Richard J. Wirth Deputy P r o j e c t Manager, T e c h n i c a l

A u q u s t H. Wessels, Jr. Deputy P r o j e c t Manager, Resources

A r t h u r C. C l a r k e S c i e n c e Manager

John P. Lahzun A s s i s t a n t S p a c e c r a f t Manager

Robert R. Marsh Mission O p e r a t i o n s Hanager

Ralph N . Banning Network O p e r a t i o n s Manager

K e r m i t B. Blaney Network Support Manager

Michael J. Prokopchak Mission Support Manager

Larry E. Rouzer I n s t r u m e n t Manager

Kennedy Space C e n t e r

L e e R. Scherer Director

Gerald D. Griffin Deputy Director

Dr. Walter J . Kapryan Director, Space V e h i c l e s

Operations

George F. Page D i r e c t o r , Expendable V e h i c l e s

W. C. Thacker C h i e f , Delta O p e r a t i o n s
Division

B e r t L. Grenville Complex 1 7 O p e r a t i o n s Manager

Gayle Hager S p a c e c r a f t Coordinator

CONTRACTORS
McDonnell Douglas D e l t a Launch V e h i c l e
Astronautics Co.
Huntington Beach, C a l i f .
Ford Aerospace Corp. GOES-C S p a c e c r a f t
S a n t a Barbara Research V i s i b l e I n f r a r e d Spin Scan Radiometer
C e n t e r , s u b s i d i a r y of
Hughes A i r c r a f t Company