Vela 3A

Vela 3A (also known Vela 5, Vela Hotel 5 and OPS 6577[2]) was a U.S. reconnaissance satellite to detect explosions and nuclear tests on land and in space; the first of the third pair of Vela series satellites; taken together with Vela 3B and ERS 17 satellites.

Vela 3A
Vela satellite.
OperatorUSAF
COSPAR ID1965-058A[1]
SATCAT no.1458
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerTRW
Launch mass150 kilograms (330 lb)
Start of mission
Launch dateJuly 20, 1965, 08:27 (1965-07-20UTC08:27Z) UTC
RocketAtlas Agena D 2A
Launch siteCape Canaveral LC-13
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeHighly Elliptical
Perigee altitude84,534 kilometres (52,527 mi)
Apogee altitude96,238 kilometres (59,800 mi)
Inclination35.2°
Period5,148.16 minutes
EpochJuly 20, 1965 (1965-07-20)
 
Launch of Vela 3A.

The secondary task of the ship was space research (X-rays, gamma rays, neutrons, magnetic field and charged particles). Sister Vela 3B was in a similar orbit, but 180 degrees from it, i.e. on the opposite side of the globe.

The satellite was rotationally stabilized (2 rps). The ship could work in real time mode (one data frame per second) or in data recording mode (one frame every 256 seconds). The first mode was used for the first 40% of the mission's duration. About 1 transmission was received every 4 hours. The second mode was used until the next pair of Vela satellites were launched.

The ship remains in orbit around Earth.

Instruments
gollark: 1 ounce```test```
gollark: 1 ounce.
gollark: Or ignoring them.
gollark: Hmm, it seems to be escaping my triple quotes.
gollark: || 1 ounce ``` ||test```

See also

References
  1. NASA GSFC. "Vela 3A". Retrieved July 28, 2019. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. Antonín Vítek. "1965-058A – Vela 3". Space 40. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.