 | NOSS-1
Credit - USN
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Other Designations: PARCAE. Code Name: White Cloud. Class: SIGINT. Type: Naval reconnaisance. Destination: Medium Earth Orbit. Nation: USA. Agency: U.S. Navy. Ocean surveillance; aka White Cloud type spacecraft; Navy Ocean Surveillance Satellite; PARCAE. NOSS detected the location of naval vessels using radio interferometry, and consisted of a main spacecraft and several subsatellites, linked by fine wires, several 100's of meters apart.
Typical orbit: 1055 km x 1165 km at 63 degrees inclination. Mass: 700 kg (1,540 lb).
NOSS Chronology - 1971 December 14 - OPS 7898 P/L 1 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC1W. Launch Vehicle: Delta. Mass: 700 kg (1,540 lb). Perigee: 983 km (610 mi). Apogee: 999 km (620 mi). Inclination: 70.00 deg. Period: 104.90 min.
Ocean surveillance; White Cloud (?) type spacecraft; test flight. Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A).
- 1971 December 14 - OPS 7898 P/L 2 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC1W. Launch Vehicle: Delta. Perigee: 983 km (610 mi). Apogee: 999 km (620 mi). Inclination: 70.00 deg. Period: 104.90 min.
Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A).
- 1971 December 14 - OPS 7898 P/L 3 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC1W. Launch Vehicle: Delta. Perigee: 982 km (610 mi). Apogee: 997 km (619 mi). Inclination: 70.00 deg. Period: 104.90 min.
Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A).
- 1971 December 14 - OPS 7898 P/L 4 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC1W. Launch Vehicle: Delta. Perigee: 981 km (609 mi). Apogee: 997 km (619 mi). Inclination: 70.00 deg. Period: 104.90 min.
Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A).
- 1976 April 30 - NOSS 1 (Whitecloud 1) - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC3W. Launch Vehicle: Atlas. Perigee: 1,092 km (678 mi). Apogee: 1,128 km (700 mi). Inclination: 63.50 deg. Period: 107.50 min.
Ocean surveillance; aka White Cloud type spacecraft; Navy Ocean Surveillance Satellite; PARCAE.
- 1977 December 8 - NOSS 2 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC3W. Launch Vehicle: Atlas. Perigee: 1,054 km (654 mi). Apogee: 1,169 km (726 mi). Inclination: 63.40 deg. Period: 107.50 min.
Ocean surveillance; aka White Cloud type spacecraft; Navy Ocean Surveillance Satellite; PARCAE.
- 1980 March 3 - EP 2 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC3W. Launch Vehicle: Atlas. Perigee: 730 km (450 mi). Apogee: 1,484 km (922 mi). Inclination: 63.40 deg. Period: 107.41 min.
- 1980 March 3 - NOSS 3 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC3W. Launch Vehicle: Atlas. Perigee: 1,035 km (643 mi). Apogee: 1,150 km (710 mi). Inclination: 63.00 deg. Period: 107.10 min.
Ocean surveillance; aka White Cloud type spacecraft; Navy Ocean Surveillance Satellite; PARCAE.
- 1980 December 9 - SSU - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC3W. Launch Vehicle: Atlas. FAILURE: Premature shut down of one of the Atlas booster engines turned the vehicle around, thereafter the sustainer thrust it back toward the earth.
- 1980 December 9 - SSU - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC3W. Launch Vehicle: Atlas. FAILURE: Premature shut down of one of the Atlas booster engines turned the vehicle around, thereafter the sustainer thrust it back toward the earth.
- 1980 December 9 - NOSS - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC3W. Launch Vehicle: Atlas. FAILURE: Premature shut down of one of the Atlas booster engines turned the vehicle around, thereafter the sustainer thrust it back toward the earth.
Ocean surveillance; aka White Cloud type spacecraft; Navy Ocean Surveillance Satellite; PARCAE. Other sources give the payload designation ABSAD. The failure was caused by a loss of lubricating oil to one of the booster engines, causing the engine to fail approx 200 milliseconds before it was to have shut down on guidance command. The asymmetric thrust pivoted the booster around approximately 180 degrees, where it stabilized in a retrofire attitude with the sustainer engine still firing. It descended back toward earth through its own exhaust flame and exploded a couple of minutes later.
- 1980 December 9 - SSU - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC3W. Launch Vehicle: Atlas. FAILURE: Premature shut down of one of the Atlas booster engines turned the vehicle around, thereafter the sustainer thrust it back toward the earth.
- 1983 February 9 - NOSS 4 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC3E. Launch Vehicle: Atlas. Perigee: 1,063 km (660 mi). Apogee: 1,186 km (736 mi). Inclination: 63.40 deg. Period: 107.80 min.
Ocean surveillance; aka White Cloud type spacecraft; Navy Ocean Surveillance Satellite; PARCAE.
- 1983 February 9 - SSB - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC3E. Launch Vehicle: Atlas. Perigee: 733 km (456 mi). Apogee: 1,489 km (925 mi). Inclination: 63.40 deg. Period: 107.42 min.
- 1983 June 9 - NOSS 5 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC3E. Launch Vehicle: Atlas. Perigee: 1,049 km (651 mi). Apogee: 1,167 km (725 mi). Inclination: 63.40 deg. Period: 107.40 min.
Ocean surveillance; aka White Cloud type spacecraft; Navy Ocean Surveillance Satellite; PARCAE.
- 1984 February 5 - NOSS 6 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC3E. Launch Vehicle: Atlas. Perigee: 1,052 km (653 mi). Apogee: 1,172 km (728 mi). Inclination: 63.40 deg. Period: 107.00 min.
Ocean surveillance; aka White Cloud type spacecraft; Navy Ocean Surveillance Satellite; PARCAE.
- 1986 February 9 - USA 15 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC3E. Launch Vehicle: Atlas. Perigee: 1,049 km (651 mi). Apogee: 1,166 km (724 mi). Inclination: 63.00 deg. Period: 107.40 min.
Ocean surveillance; aka White Cloud type spacecraft; Navy Ocean Surveillance Satellite; PARCAE.
- 1987 May 15 - USA 22 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC3E. Launch Vehicle: Atlas. Perigee: 1,045 km (649 mi). Apogee: 1,179 km (732 mi). Inclination: 62.90 deg. Period: 107.80 min.
Ocean surveillance; aka White Cloud type spacecraft; Navy Ocean Surveillance Satellite; PARCAE.
- 1993 August 2 - SSU - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC4E. Launch Vehicle: Titan. FAILURE: Failure. Apogee: 33 km (20 mi).
- 1993 August 2 - SSU - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC4E. Launch Vehicle: Titan. FAILURE: Failure. Apogee: 33 km (20 mi).
- 1993 August 2 - SSU - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC4E. Launch Vehicle: Titan. FAILURE: Failure. Apogee: 33 km (20 mi).
- 1993 August 2 - TLD - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Complex: SLC4E. Launch Vehicle: Titan. FAILURE: Failure. Apogee: 33 km (20 mi).
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, Jonathon, Quest, "US Reconnaissance Satellite Programs Part 2", 1995, Volume 4, Issue 4, page 49.
- Lockheed Martin Coporation, Atlas Family Fact Sheets, September 1998.. Web Address when accessed: http://www.lmco.com/ILS/txtmain/ils_lsysinfo.htm.
- McDowell, Jonathan, Launch Log, October 1998. Web Address when accessed: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/log/launch.html.
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