Jan 30 1979
From The Space Library
NASA launched for the U.S. Air Force a satellite called SCATHA (spacecraft charging at high altitudes) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 4:42 p.m. EST on Delta into a transfer orbit pending its boost into operational orbit February 2. Later orbit elements were 43,297-kilometer apogee, 27,512-kilometer perigee, 1,416.6-minute period, 6.5° inclination. SCATHA carried twelve experiments, three provided by NASA, to collect data on high energy solar-wind particles causing false signals from satellites by building up electrical charges on their surfaces. Military and commercial satellites in geostationary orbit over the Earth at 35,900 kilometers (22,300 miles) had been the major sufferers; the charges could effectively disable vital communications by causing equipment failure, false recording of unachieved events, or initiation of unplanned events.
SCATHA would meet the greatest challenge of its planned 1-year lifetime during a solar eclipse period beginning in March, when electrical charging would reach its height; Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) had included an electric-field detector, a pair of 50-meter antennas to be extended in opposite directions in March to form a single instrument longer than a football field. Extension of the antennas might effect the spacecraft's dynamics. The USAF's Space and Missile System Organization (SAMSO) would reimburse NASA about $9 million for the launch. (NASA Release 79-3; NASA MOR M-492-303-79-01 [prelaunch] Jan 17/79, [postlaunch] Oct 25/789; O Sen Star, Jan 31/79, 1; Today, Jan 20/79, 8A; Jan 22/79, 6A; Jan 30/79, 10A; W Star, Jan 23/79, A-6)
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