| definition
| - Spacecraft Brief Description
The PAGEOS (Passive Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite) spacecraft was
a 30.48-m inflatable sphere, and had no instrumentation on board. It
was the second (following GEOS 1) NASA satellite in the National
Geodetic Satellites Program. PAGEOS 1 was made up of 84 gores and 2
pole caps of 0.0127-mm aluminized mylar film. The gores were 48 m
long with maximum width of 1.24 m and the pole caps were 1.02 m in
diameter. The primary purpose of the satellite was to provide a
tracking target for geodetic purposes. It had a specular reflectance
of 0.862, and a diffuse reflectance of 0.029, providing a reflecting
light source whose brightness was relatively independent of
observer-satellite-sun phase angle. The surface was also 97%
reflectant for microwave energy in the range from 17 to 4E5 kHz. The
launch, orbit, separation, inflation and initial operation were
nominal, with more than 40 ground stations participating in the
observation program. The orbit was generally considered too high for
drag-density study, although some work was done in this area by the
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. For a more detailed
description, see David E. Bowker, 'PAGEOS Project Compilation of
Information for Use of Experimenter' (TRF B01718), NASA-TM-X-1344,
1967.
Auxiliary Information
Launch Date and Time : 1966-06-24 00:14:00
Epoch Date and Time : 1966-06-24
Orbit Type : Geocentric
Apogee(km) : 4271.
Perigee(km) : 4207.
Inclination : 87.14
Date of last update : 1985-07-17
Group: Platform_Details
Entry_ID: PAGEOS 1
Group: Platform_Identification
Platform_Category: Earth Observation Satellites
Short_Name: PAGEOS 1
Long_Name: Passive Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite 1
End_Group
Group: Synonymous_Platform_Names
Short_Name: PAGEOS 1
End_Group
Group: Orbit
Orbit_Inclination: 85.40 deg
Period: 177.10 min
Perigee: 3,913 km
Apogee: 4,220 km
End_Group
Creation_Date: 2007-11-21
Online_Resource: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/masterCatalog.do?sc=1966-056A
Sample_Image: http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/foundations/satellite_geodesy/pageos_500.jpg
Group: Platform_Logistics
Launch_Date: 1966-06-24
Launch_Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA
Primary_Sponsor: NASA
End_Group
End_Group (en)
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