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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). Associated Launch Vehicle: Atlas E, Atlas F, Atlas H, Thorad Agena D SLV-2G, Titan 4.
NOSS Chronology
- 1980 December 9 - SSU - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Atlas E. FAILURE: Premature shut down of one of the Atlas booster engines turned the vehicle around, whereafter the sustainer thrust it back toward the earth.
- 1980 December 9 - NOSS - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Atlas E. FAILURE: Premature shut down of one of the Atlas booster engines turned the vehicle around, whereafter 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 Vehicle: Atlas E. FAILURE: Premature shut down of one of the Atlas booster engines turned the vehicle around, whereafter the sustainer thrust it back toward the earth.
- 1980 December 9 - SSU - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Atlas E. FAILURE: Premature shut down of one of the Atlas booster engines turned the vehicle around, whereafter the sustainer thrust it back toward the earth.
- 1980 March 3 - EP 2 - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Atlas F. Perigee: 730 km (450 mi). Apogee: 1,484 km (922 mi). Inclination: 63.40 deg. Period: 107.41 min.
- 1983 February 9 - SSB - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Atlas H. Perigee: 733 km (456 mi). Apogee: 1,489 km (925 mi). Inclination: 63.40 deg. Period: 107.42 min.
- 1993 August 2 - SSU - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Titan 4. FAILURE: Failure. Apogee: 33 km (20 mi).
- 1993 August 2 - SSU - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Titan 4. FAILURE: Failure. Apogee: 33 km (20 mi).
- 1993 August 2 - SSU - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Titan 4. FAILURE: Failure. Apogee: 33 km (20 mi).
- 1993 August 2 - TLD - Launch Site: Vandenberg. Launch Vehicle: Titan 4. FAILURE: Failure. Apogee: 33 km (20 mi).
Bibliography and Further Reading
- McDowell, Jonathon, Quest, "US Reconnaissance Satellite Programs Part 2", 1995, Volume 4, Issue 4, page 49.
- McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page, Harvard University, 1997-present. Jonathan McDowell's complete on-line listing of all objects orbited and over 20,000 rocket launches Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
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