The Gravity Gradient Test Satellite was launched by the
US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
from
Cape Canaveral LC41 aboard a
Titan IIIC
The Titan IIIC was an expendable launch system used by the United States Air Force from 1965 until 1982. It was the first Titan (rocket family), Titan booster to feature large solid rocket motors and was planned to be used as a launcher for the D ...
rocket on June 16, 1966, at 14:00:01 UTC.
The satellite was launched along with seven
IDCSP satellites, with which it shared a
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...
.
In contrast to the solar-powered IDCSP satellites, GGTS was battery powered.
GGTS utilized the Magnetically Anchored Gravity Systems (MACS), which consisted of two identical subsystem packages, each containing an extensible rod unit and a magnetically anchored spherical viscous damper.
The rod units had an extended length of ,
and their damper tip weights gave the satellite a symmetric dumbbell configuration.
The dampers were produced by General Electric and consisted of two concentric spheres separated by a viscous damping fluid.
The internal sphere contained a hollow cylindrical magnet which served to "anchor' the inner sphere to the Earth's magnetic field,
stabilizing the satellite over time.
It had been hoped that within 60 days of launch, the satellite would reach a stabilization of ±8° on the x- and y-axis.
The results were compromised, as one of the dampers was magnetically contaminated.
A follow-up GGTS mission was lost due to a launch vehicle failure on August 28, 1966.
See also
*
IDCSP
References
{{Orbital launches in 1966
Spacecraft launched in 1966
Spacecraft launched by Titan rockets