Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite (GEOS)
GEOS-1
Spacecraft Brief Description The GEOS 1 (Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite) spacecraft was a gravity-gradient-stabilized, solar-cell powered unit designed exclusively for geodetic studies. It was the first successful active spacecraft of the National Geodetic Satellite Program. Instrumentation included (1) four optical beacons, (2) laser reflectors, (3) a radio range transponder, (4) Doppler beacons, and (5) a range and range rate transponder. These were designed to operate simultaneously to fulfill the objectives of locating observation points (geodetic control stations) in a three dimensional earth center-of-mass coordinate system within 10 m of accuracy, of defining the structure of the earth's irregular gravitational field and refining the locations and magnitudes of the large gravity anomalies, and of comparing results of the various systems onboard the spacecraft to determine the most accurate and reliable system. Acquisition and recording of data were the responsibility of the GSFC Space Tracking and Data Acquisitions Network (STADAN). Ten major observing networks were used. Auxiliary Information Launch Date and Time : 1965-11-06 18:43:00 Epoch Date and Time : 1978-12-30 Orbit Type : Geocentric Apogee(km) : 2275. Perigee(km) : 1113. Inclination : 59.4 Date of last update : 1992-04-21 Group: Platform_Details Entry_ID: GEOS-1 Group: Platform_Identification Platform_Category: Earth Observation Satellites Platform_Series_or_Entity: GEOS (Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite) Short_Name: GEOS-1 Long_Name: Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite-1 End_Group Group: Synonymous_Platform_Names Short_Name: GEOS-1 End_Group Group: Platform_Associated_Instruments Short_Name: TRANSPONDERS Short_Name: DOPPLER BEACONS Short_Name: RADIO TRANSPONDERS Short_Name: LASER REFLECTOR Short_Name: OPTICAL BEACON End_Group Group: Orbit Orbit_Inclination: 59.3 deg Period: 540 days Perigee: 1135 km Apogee: 2270 km Orbit_Type: LEO > Low Earth Orbit > Polar Sun-Synchronous End_Group Creation_Date: 2007-09-26 Online_Resource: http://cddis.nasa.gov/926/egm96/geos1.html Sample_Image: http://www1.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/hillger/ESA-GEOS-1_image.jpg Group: Platform_Logistics Launch_Date: 1977-04-20 Launch_Site: Cape Canaveral/Kennedy Space Center, USA Primary_Sponsor: NASA End_Group End_Group