Delta, today-tomorrow, capabilities, constraints, costs.
Three stage Delta launch vehicle, discussing flight sequence and performance, environments, spacecraft integration, launch operation and total costs
Gunn, C. R.↗
SEARCH · Search NASA
Results for “DELTA LAUNCH VEHICLE”
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Biosatellite II operations.
Biosatellite 2 operations, discussing orbiting by two stage delta launch vehicle, battery powering and STADAN planned communications
Dyer, J. W.↗
Solar observatory set for launching - Press kit
Preflight briefing data on OSO-5 launch, Delta launch vehicle, and onboard solar experiments
Source record↗
Design of an inert fluid injection system, phase 3 Final report
Research, development, and design of velocity trim system for third stage of Delta launch vehicle
Baker, L. R., Jr.↗
Applications technology satellites advanced mission study
Three spacecraft configurations were designed for operation as a high powered synchronous communications satellite. Each spacecraft includes a 1 kw TWT and a 2 kw Klystron power amplifier feeding an antenna with multiple shaped beams. One of the spacecraft is designed to be boosted by a Thor-Delta launch vehicle and raised to synchronous orbit with electric propulsion. The other two are inserted into a elliptical transfer orbit with an Atlas Centaur and injected into final orbit with an apogee kick motor. Advanced technologies employed in the several configurations include tubes with multiple stage collectors radiating directly to space, multiple-contoured beam antennas, high voltage rollout solar cell arrays with integral power conditioning, electric propulsion for orbit raising and on-station attitude control and station-keeping, and liquid metal slip rings.
Gould, L. M.↗
The interplanetary Pioneers. Volume 2: System design and development
The Pioneer systems, subsystems, and ground support activities are described. Details are given on the launch trajectory and solar orbit plans, spacecraft design approach and evolution, scientific instrument, test and ground support equipment, Delta launch vehicle, tracking and communication, and data processing equipment. Pioneer specifications, and reliability and quality assurance are also included.
Corliss, W. R.↗
ITOS D AND E system design report, volume 1
The configuration and functions of the ITOS D and E system are described. The system will expand the operational capability of the basic TIROS M/ITOS system. The ITOS D and E mission will utilize the capabilities of the two-stage DSV 3N-6 Delta launch vehicle to place the ITOS D and E spacecraft into a circular, near-polar, sun synchronous orbit at 790 nautical miles altitude. The ITOS D and E will provide the following primary data: (1) visible daytime observations of cloud cover, (2) daytime and nighttime observations of cloud cover as detected from radiance in infrared spectrum, and (3) vertical temperature profile of the atmosphere on a global basis for data processing. In addition, the ITOS D and E system will provide secondary data comprising solar proton density measurements obtained throughout the orbit.
Source record↗
A new approach to mass spectrometer measurements of thermospheric density
The gas sampling problem in satellite and high velocity probes was investigated by applying the theory of a drifting Maxwellian gas. A lens system using a free stream ion source was developed and experimentally evaluated over the pressure range of 0.00001 to 0.01 N/m sq (approx. 10 to the minus 7th power to 0.0001 torr). The source has high beam transparency, which minimizes gas-surface collisions within, or near, the ionization volume. It is shown that for high ion energy (60 eV), the extracted ion beam has an on-axis energy spread of less than 4 eV, and that 90 percent of the ions are within 2.5 deg of the beam axis. It is concluded that the molecular beam mass spectrometer concept, developed for gas density measurements in the upper atmosphere, substantially reduces gas-surface scattering and gas-surface reactions in the sample, and preserves the integrity of the gas sample during the analysis process. Studies show that both the Scout and Delta launch vehicles have adequate volume, control, velocity, and data acquisition capability necessary to obtain thermospheric number density in real time.
Melfi, L. T., Jr.↗
ERTS-B (Earth Resources Technology Satellite)
Mission plans and objectives of the ERTS 2 Satellite are presented. ERTS 2 follow-on investigations in various scientific disciplines including agriculture, meteorology, land-use, geology, water resources, oceanography, and environment are discussed. Spacecraft design and its sensors are described along with the Delta launch vehicle and launch operations. Applications identified from ERTS 1 investigations are summarized.
Source record↗
NASA to launch second SATCOM in RCA series
The RCA-SATCOM-11 satellite, scheduled to be launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. on March 25, 1976, using a Delta launch vehicle, was discussed. The following subjects were described: satellite itself, launch vehicle, launch operations, key personnel.
Source record↗
Observation, experimentation, tracking and navigation satellite systems
A tabular compedium is presented consisting of a brief description of each satellite program that is currently being operated or planned for the near future by NASA, or launched by NASA and currently being operated by NOAA. Attention is given to NASA supported earth satellites for observation, experimentation, and communication/navigation, to weather satellite programs including TIROS, ESSA, and ITOS/NOAA, and to delta launch vehicle characteristics and history.
Deskevich, J.↗
Improved NOAA weather satellite scheduled for NASA launch
A description of the GOES-E mission is presented and includes the instrumentation of the satellite, data acquisition, spacecraft description, and Delta Launch Vehicle description. The launch operations are presented and include major launch events, post-launch events, and a review of the Delta/GOES-E team.
Source record↗
NASA launches dual Dynamics Explorer spacecraft
A Delta launch vehicle was used to insert Dynamics Explorer A into a highly elliptical polar orbit, ranging from 675 to 24,945 km, and Dynamics Explorer B satellite into a low polar orbit, ranging from 306 to 1,300 km. The two spacecraft are designed to provide specific knowledge about the interaction of energy, electric currents, electric fields, and plasmas between the magnetosphere, the ionosphere, and the atmosphere.
Source record↗
Analytical solution for the drift behavior of Dynamics Explorer-B
The Dynamics Explorer (DE) mission was designed to explore the earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere, and plasmasphere. The DE mission employs two spacecraft, including DE-A and DE-B. The spacecraft were launched from the Western Test Range on Aug. 3, 1981, onboard the same Delta launch vehicle. The two spacecraft were placed in a coplanar polar orbit, with DE-A in a high altitude orbit (perigee = 570 km and apogee = 23174 km) and DE-B in a low altitude orbit (perigee = 309 km and apogee = 1013 km). In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to validate the flight data for DE-B with analytic and simulation results. The external torques acting on the spacecraft are represented in terms of tractable mathematical functions. A piecewise linear model of the superrotation of the upper atmosphere is assumed. The effect of individual torques on the long-term pitch axis motion is investigated using analytic and simulation methods. The results are found to be in very good agreement with the available flight data.
Sellappan, R. G.↗
RCA-E/Delta post launch report
The RCA-E spacecraft launch is summarized. Performance of the three stage Delta launch vehicle was nominal and placed the payload in a transfer orbit as planned. The ABM firing is also summarized.
Abrahamson, J. A.↗
The PIX-2 experiment: An overview
The second Plasma Interactions Experiment (PIX-2) was launched in January 1983 as a piggyback on the second stage of the Delta launch vehicle that carried IRAS into orbit. Placed in a 870 km circular polar orbit, it returned 18 hrs of data on the plasma current collection and arcing behavior of solar arrays biased to +/-1000 V in steps. The four 500 sq cm solar array segments were biased singly and in combinations. In addition to the array segments PIX-2 carried a Sun sensor, a Langmuir probe to measure electron currents, and a hot-wire filament electron emitter to control vehicle potential during positive array bias sequences. The PIX-2 experiment is reviewed from program and operational perspectives.
Purvis, C. K.↗
Cryogenic fluid management program flight concept definition
The Lewis Research Center's cryogenic fluid management program flight concept definition is presented in viewgraph form. Diagrams are given of the cryogenic fluid management subpallet and its configuration with the Delta launch vehicle. Information is given in outline form on feasibility studies, requirements definition, and flight experiments design.
Kroeger, Erich↗
Current operational practice for the Delta second stage
At the end of operation for the Delta launch vehicle's second-stage propellant tankage, 250 lb of propellants remain. Analyses of on-orbit breakups that may have been caused by fuel tank overpressurization have led to the adoption of a restart operational policy in which the engine is fired for as long as necessary to ensure that as much oxidizer as possible is vented from the tank; tank pressures are thereby reduced to about 75 psi. None of the 12 experimentally restarted stages have broken up since 1981.
Gray, Almon A., Jr.↗