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National Aeronautics and

Space Administration
A News
-

Washington. D.C 20546

AC 202 755-8370

For Release IMMEDIATE

Press Kit Project OTS-B

RELEASE NO: 78-53

Contents

GENERAL RELEASE.................................... 1-4

DELTA LAUNCH VEHICLE ( 3 9 1 4 ) STATISTICS............. 5-6

MAJOR LAUNCH EVENTS FOR DELTA 3914/OTS-2 MISSION... 7

DELTA/OTS LAUNCH TEAM.. ............................ 8-9

CONTRACTORS........................................ 9

Malled:
A p r i l 1 0 , 1978
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
Washington, D.C.20546
AC 202 755-8370

For Release:
David Garrett
Headquarters, Washington, D.C. IMMEDIATE
(Phone: 202/755-3090)

Joe McRoberts
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone: 301/982-4955)

RELEASE NO: 78-53

NASA TO LAUNCH OTS-B TEST SATELLITE F O R EUROPEAN COMMUNICATIONS

A European communications satellite, Orbital Test Satel-

lite (OTS-B),the forerunner of an operational system will be
launched by NASA for the European Space Agency (ESA) no earlier
than April 27 from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

The time of launch for an April 27 liftoff will be between

5:54 and 7:49 p.m. EST. This time will change a few minutes
each day after April 27.

This new type of communications spacecraft is one of two

experimental models built by ESA to test the satellite's per-
formance in orbit.
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Its operational descendents are expected to provide

satellite links in the 1980s for routing portions of the
intra-European telephone, telegraph and telex traffic as
well as providing television relay services for Western
Europe.

Under an agreement between the [Jnited States and ESA,

the satellite will be launched by NASA's Delta rocket. ESA
will reimburse NASA for the cost of the Delta launch vehicle,
launch services and other administrative costs totaling
$17 million.

OTS-B, which will become OTS-2 when it goes into orbit,

will provide experimental and pre-operational traffic capa-
bility for one or two television channels and 2,OQO-5,000
telephone circuits. When orbited OTS-2 will weigh 865
kilograms (1,908 pounds) .
From the satellite's on-station position over West Africa
at 10 degrees E. longitude above the equator, the coverage
will include the whole of Western Europe, the Middle East,
North Africa, the Azores, Canary Islands, Madeira and Iceland.

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T h e f i r s t OTS (OTS-A) was l a u n c h e d by NASA on a Delta

r o c k e t S e p t . 1 3 , 1 9 7 7 , from Cape C a n a v e r a l , b u t t h e f i r s t

s t a g e of D e l t a e x p l o d e d 55 s e c o n d s a f t e r l i f t o f f . The c a u s e

w a s t r a c e d t o a p r o b a b l e b u r n - t h r o u g h of one o f t h e s o l i d

p r o p e l l a n t s t r a p - o n C a s t o r I V m o t o r s which i s s t r a p p e d around

t h e bottom o f t h e f i r s t s t a g e Thor b o o s t e r . The Castor I V

motor h a s s u b s e q u e n t l y been m o d i f i e d by i n c r e a s i n g t h e t h i c k -
n e s s o f t h e i n s u l a t i o n l i n e r between t h e s o l i d p r o p e l l a n t

and t h e e x t e r i o r motor c a s e .

OTS-2 w i l l be i n j e c t e d i n t o a synchronous t r a n s f e r o r b i t

o f a b o u t 36,081 k i l o m e t e r s ( 2 2 , 4 2 0 m i l e s ) apogee a l t i t u d e ,

1 8 5 km ( 1 1 5 m i . ) p e r i g e e and 2 7 . 4 degrees inclination. On

t h e f o u r t h apogee r o u g h l y 36 h o u r s a f t e r l a u n c h , when t h e

s p a c e c r a f t i s over t h e mid-Atlantic, t h e s p a c e c r a f t apogee

k i c k motor w i l l be f i r e d t o c i r c u l a r i z e t h e o r b i t . From t h e r e

it w i l l b e a l l o w e d t o d r i f t s e v e r a l d e g r e e s p e r day u n t i l it

a r r i v e s a t i t s i n i t i a l o n - s t a t i o n p o s i t i o n a t 1 0 d e g r e e s E.

l o n g i t u d e above the e q u a t o r .

T h e apogee k i c k motor f i r i n g w i l l b e c o n t r o l l e d from

t h e European Space O p e r a t i o n s C e n t e r ( E S O C ) , D a r m s t a d t , W e s t

Germany, which i s r e s p o n s i b l e f o r a l l t r a c k i n g and d a t a

recovery a c t i v i t i e s a f t e r t h e s p a c e c r a f t reaches t r a n s f e r

orbit.

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Launch vehicle tracking as well as early orbit space-

craft tracking will be provided by NASA's Space Tracking
and Data Network (TTDN) with all spacecraft data sent simul-
taneously to ESOC.

The spacecraft was built under the supervision of ESA

by industries in 10 European countries: Belgium, Denmark,
France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland,
the United Kingdom and Spain.

ESA gave direct responsibility.for building the satellite

to British Aerospace Dynamics Corp.(formerly Hawker Siddeley
Dynamics), Britain, as prime contractor. They were supported
by a team of contractors from the other countries mentioned
above.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.,

provides technical direction of the Delta project for the
Office of Space Flight. The Kennedy Space Center's Expendable

Vehicles Directorate is responsible to Goddard for launch

operations. McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co., Huntington
Beach, Calif., is the prime contractor.

(END OF GENERAL RELEASE. BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOLLOWS.)

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DELTA LAUNCH VEHICLE (3914) STATISTICS

The OTS-2 spacecraft will be launched by a three-stage

Delta 3 9 1 4 launch vehicle. This launching will make 141
f o r the Delta rocket which has achieved an impressive per-
formance record of more than 90 per cent. The overall launch
vehicle has the following general characteristics:
Height: 3 5 . 4 meters (116 feet) including shroud

Maximum Diameter: 2 . 4 m ( 8 ft.) without attached solids

Liftoff Weight: 1 9 0 , 6 3 0 kg ( 4 2 0 , 2 6 9 1b.I

Liftoff Thrust: 2 , 0 5 8 , 2 4 5 newtons ( 4 6 2 , 7 1 4 lh.)

includes main engine plus five
Castor IV strap-on solids
First Stage
(Liquid only) consists of an extended long-tank Thor,
produced by McDonnell Douglas. The RS-27 engines are pro-
duced by the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International.
This stage has the following characteristics:
Height: 2 1 . 3 m ( 7 0 ft.1

Propellants: R P - 1 kerosene as the fuel and liquid

oxygen (LOX) as the oxidizer
Initial Thrust: 911,880 N (205,000 lb.)

Strap-on solids consist of nine solid-propellant

Castor IV rockets produced by the Thiokol Chemical Corp.,
with the following features:
Heiqht: 11.3 m ( 3 7 ft.)
Diameter: 1 m ( 3 . 3 ft.)
Propellants: Solid
Average Thrust: 4 0 7 , 0 0 0 N ( 9 1 , 5 2 0 lb.) per s o l i d

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Second S t a g e

Produced by McDonnell Douglas A s t r o n a u t i c s C o . , u s i n g

a TRW TR-201 r o c k e t e n g i n e ; m a j o r c o n t r a c t o r s f o r t h e ve-
h i c l e i n e r t i a l g u i d a n c e s y s t e m l o c a t e d on t h e second s t a g e
are Hamilton S t a n d a r d , Teledyne and Delco. The second s t a g e
has t h e following c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s :

Height: 7 m (23 ft.)

Diameter: 1.4 m (4.6 ft.)

Propellants: L i q u i d , c o n s i s t i n g of Aerozene 50 f o r
t h e f u e l and NitrocJen T e t r o x i d e ( N 2 0 4 )

T h r u s t Average: 4 3 , 3 9 8 N ( 9 , 7 5 6 1b.I

Third Stage

A TE-364-4 motor produced by t h e T h i o k o l Chemical C o .

with the following c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s :
Height: 1.8 m (6 f t . )

Diameter: 0.95 m ( 3 . 1 ft.)

Propellants: Solid

Thrust: 6 6 , 6 5 6 N (14,985 lb.)

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 MAJOR LAUPICH EvEYTS FOQ DFLTA 3914/OTS-2 MISSION

A 1t it u d e Velocity
Event Time Kilometers/Yiles Km/Hr Mph

Liftoff 0 sec. 0 0 n 0

F i v e S o l i d Motor Burnout 5 7 . 6 sec. 10 6 2,771 1,722

Four S o l i d Motor I g n i t i o n 1 min. 4 sec. 13 8 2 ,7 7 0 1,721

Three S o l i d Motor J e t t i s o n 1 min. 4 sec. 17 8 2 ,7 7 0 1,721

Two S o l i d Motor J e t t i s o n 1 min. S sec. 13 8 2,808 1,745

Four S o l i d Motor Burnout 2 min. 1 . 8 sec. 44 27 8 I 545 5 ,3 1 0

Four S o l i d Motor J e t t i s o n 2 min. 7 sec. 48 3q 8,838 5,492

Main Engine C u t o f f (FECO) 3 min. 4 3 sec. 108 67 11,078 13,097

First/Second Staqe Separation 3 min. 5 1 sec. 113 70 2 1 ,1 1 2 1 3 ,1 1 9 I

4
I
Second S t a g e I g n i t i o n 3 min. 5 6 sec. 116 72 21,096 1 3 ,1 0 8

Fairinq Jettison 4 min. 1 9 sec. 127 79 2 1 ,4 7 2 1 3 ,3 4 2

Second S t a q e C u t o f f (SECO) 8 min. 1 3 sec. 159 99 28,214 1 7 I 531

Second S t a g e R e s t a r t 20 min. 36 sec. 179 111 28 I 172 1 7 I 474

SECO 2 2 1 min. 1 5 sec. 180 112 2 9 ,7 1 9 18,466

T h i r d S t a g e Spinup 22 min. 4 sec. 181 113 29 I 713 18,463

Second/Third S t a g e S e p a r a t i o n 22 min. 6 sec. 181 113 29,713 18,463

Third Stage I g n i t i o n 22 min. 4 8 sec. 185 115 29,699 1 8 I 454

T h i r d S t a g e Burnout 2 3 min. 3 2 sec. 192 119 36,9n2 22 ,9 3 0

Third Stage/Spacecraft 24 min. 44 sec. 233 145 36 ,7 7 1 2 2 ,8 4 9

Separation
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DELTAIOTS LAUNCH TEAM

NASA H e a d q u a r t e r s

John F. Yardley Associate Administrator

f o r Space F l i g h t .

J o s e p h B. Mahon D i r e c t o r of Expendable
Launch V e h i c l e s

Peter T. Eaton Manager, D e l t a Program

Goddard Space F l i g h t C e n t e r

Dr. R o b e r t S. Cooper Director

Robert E. Smylie Deputy D i r e c t o r

R o b e r t Baumann A s s o c i a t e D i r e c t o r Space
T r a n s p o r t a t i o n Systems
David W. Grimes D e l t a P r o j e c t Manager

W i l l i a m R. Russell Deputy D e l t a P r o j e c t
Manager, T e c h n i c a l

R o b e r t Goss M i s s i o n A n a l y s i s and
I n t e g r a t i o n Branch Manager,
Delta Project Office

Frank Lawrence D e l t a Mission I n t e g r a t i o n

Manager

Kenneth McDonald M i s s i o n O p e r a t i o n s and

N e t w o r k S u p p o r t Manager

Raymond Mazur Mission S u p p o r t

Kennedy Space C e n t e r

L e e R. Scherer Director

G e r a l d D. Griffin Deputv D i r e c t o r
Dr. W a l t e r J. Kapryan D i r e c t o r , Space V e h i c l e s
Operations

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Kennedy Space C e n t e r ( c o n t ' d . )

George F. Page D i r e c t o r , Expendable V e h i c l e s

W. C. Thacker Chief, Delta Operations

Division

B e r t L. Grenville Complex 1 7 O p e r a t i o n s Manager

David Bragdon Spacecraft Coordinator

European Space Agency

R o y Gibson D i r e c t o r General

W a l t e r Luksch D i r e c t o r of Communications

Dr. Rene C.L. Collette Manager of F i x e d S e r v i c e

Communications Programs

Brian Stockwell OTS P r o j e c t Manager

Rrian Atkinson OTS Launch O p e r a t i o n s P4anager

C ONT RACT 0RS

McDonnell Douglas Delta launch v e h i c l e

Astronautics Co.
H u n t i n q t o n Beach, C a l i f .

B r i t i s h Aerospace Dynamics S p a c e c r a f t (prime)

G r o u p , U n i t e d Kingdom

AEG-Telefunken Communications p a y l o a d
Germany ( p r i m e)

Aeritalia, Italy Spacecraft co-contractor

ERNO, Germany Spacecraft co-contractor

Matra, France Spacecraft co-contractor

SAAB, Sweden Spacecraft co-contractor

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