FRANCE

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Class: Earth. Type: Ionosphere. Destination: Medium Earth Orbit. Nation: France. Agency: CNES.

VLF wave propagation studies. Investigation of the properties of the ionized layers of the atmosphere by observation of the propagation of the properties of very low frequency waves in the ionosphere.

Typical orbit: 696 km x 707 km at 76 degrees inclination. Mass: 60 kg (132 lb).

FRANCE Chronology

1965 December 6 - FRANCE 1 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC5. Launch Vehicle: Scout. Mass: 60 kg (132 lb). Perigee: 696 km (432 mi). Apogee: 707 km (439 mi). Inclination: 75.90 deg. Period: 98.80 min.
VLF wave propagation studies. Investigation of the properties of the ionized layers of the atmosphere by observation of the propagation of the properties of very low frequency waves in the ionosphere. First registered by the United States in A/AC.105/INF.125. Orbit given there was 99 .9 min, 749 x 753 km x 75.9 deg, with note: France provided the payload for 1965-101A.

Bibliography:

McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page (launch records), Harvard University, 1997-present. Web Address when accessed: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. Web Address when accessed: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html.
McDowell, Jonathan, Launch Log, October 1998. Web Address when accessed: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/log/launch.html.

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