Applications Technology Satellite 3, or ATS-3, was a long-lived American experimental

geostationary A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitud ...

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmo ...

and

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...

, operated by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

from 1967 to 2001. It was at one time reputed to be the oldest satellite still in operation. , NASA referred to the ATS-3 as "The oldest active communications satellite by a wide margin." On November 10, 1967, ATS-3 took NASA's first color photo (digital image mosaic) of the full-disk Earth, which was subsequently used on the cover of the first ''

Whole Earth Catalog The ''Whole Earth Catalog'' (WEC) was an American counterculture magazine and product catalog published by author Stewart Brand several times a year between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. The magazine featured essays ...

''.

History

Launched in November 1967, the ATS-3 was in service for 11 years before finally being decommissioned in 1978 along with ATS-1. Among its widest-known achievements are the first full-disk, "true color" composite Earth image (

DODGE Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

took color-filtered black-and-white images, put together they produced the very first color image of the full-disk). Its imaging capability has served during disaster situations, from the

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

earthquake to the Mount St. Helens eruption. ATS-3 experiments included VHF and C-band communications, a color spin-scan camera (principally developed by Verner E. Suomi), an

image dissector An image dissector, also called a dissector tube, is a video camera tube in which photocathode emissions create an "electron image" which is then swept up, down and across an anode to produce an electrical signal representing the visual image. I ...

camera, a mechanically despun antenna, resistojet thrusters,

hydrazine Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a simple pnictogen hydride, and is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour. Hydrazine is highly hazardous unless handled in solution as, for example, hydraz ...

propulsion Propulsion is the generation of force by any combination of pushing or pulling to modify the translational motion of an object, which is typically a rigid body (or an articulated rigid body) but may also concern a fluid. The term is derived from ...

, optical surface experiments, and the measurement of the electron content of the

ionosphere The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays ...

and

magnetosphere In astronomy and planetary science, a magnetosphere is a region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are affected by that object's magnetic field. It is created by a celestial body with an active interior Dynamo ...

. Because of failures in the hydrogen peroxide systems on ATS-1, ATS-3 was equipped with a hydrazine propulsion system. Its success led to its incorporation on ATS-4 and ATS-5 as the sole propulsion system.

Operational details

The satellite is in geo-synchronous orbit above the Earth's surface. The satellite has served as a communications link for rescue operations, including the

1985 Mexico City earthquake The 1985 Mexico City earthquake struck in the early morning of 19 September at 07:17:50 (CST) with a Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 8.0 and a maximal Modified Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). The ev ...

and the

1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens In March 1980, a series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows began at Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington, United States. A series of Phreatic eruption, phreatic blasts occurred from the summit and escalated until a major ...

.Pae, Peter, "Satellites' Longevity Limits Sales", ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', December 1, 2008, p. C1. Circa 1970, ATS-3 was used to collect images of weather patterns, especially developing hurricanes in the

Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the 180th meridian.- The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Geopolitically, ...

. 1,200 line photos were downlinked, approximately every 25 minutes, during daylight hours to NOAA's Command and Data Acquisition Station at Wallops Station, Virginia and transferred to various users. The satellite was known for its spinning beam antennas locking up and rotating with the satellite. When that happened, it took a powerful ground-based transmitter, like the one at Mojave, to blast through digital instructions to get the antenna aimed back at Earth again.

Gallery

File:Atlas-SLV3 Agena-D (ATS 3).jpg, Launch of ATS-3 File:Concept artwork of the ATS-3 satellite (G-66-3652).jpg, Concept artwork of the ATS-3 satellite. File:ATSIII 10NOV67 153107.jpg, NASA's first color photo (digital image mosaic) of Earth, imaged in 1967 by ATS-3, was used as the cover of ''

''s first edition. File:The First Color Movie of the Planet Earth.webm, Time-lapse footage of the Earth captured by the NASA ATS III satellite in 1967. File:Hurricane Agnes, 1972 (50700829497).jpg,

Hurricane Agnes Hurricane Agnes was the List of costliest Atlantic hurricanes, costliest hurricane to hit the United States at the time, causing an estimated $2.1 billion in damage. The hurricane's death toll was 128. The effects of Agnes were widespread, ...

made landfall in Florida on June 18, 1972, seen here from the ATS-3 satellite before moving ashore. File:The Super Outbreak, 1974 (50700829457).jpg, The April 3–4, 1974, "Super Outbreak" is the second-largest outbreak of tornadoes in the U.S. on record, and holds the record for the most F5 tornadoes on a single day. The image seen here is from the ATS-3 satellite on the afternoon of April 3, 1974, as the outbreak was beginning. File:ATS-3 Satellite VHF Ground Station Antenna.jpg, ATS-3 Ground Station Antenna

References

External links

Information and tracking

ATS-3 16 Year In Orbit Evaluation
{{DEFAULTSORT:ATS-3 Derelict satellites orbiting Earth Communications satellites Weather satellites of the United States Spacecraft launched in 1967 Applications Technology Satellites

History

Operational details

Gallery

See also

References

External links