AbstractThe Communications Technology Satellite (Hermes) was launched by NASA on 17 Jan. 1976 as part of a joint U.S./Canadian program in which Canada designed, assembled and now operates the satellite. The satellite's primary features include a travelling wave tube (TWT) operating at a frequency of 12 Gigahertz with a power output of greater than 200 W, extendible flexible solar arrays providing an initial power output of greater than 1300 W, and a three axis stabilization system to maintain the satellite body pointing to within plus or minus 0.1° about pitch and roll and 1.1° about yaw. In this paper, highlights of the satellite operations are described. Significant areas of the performance of the main subsystems are reviewed to illustrate how mission objectives have been met. Where operational plans have been altered significantly, the changes are discussed. A brief status report of the Canadian communications experiments operations is presented.
The communications technology satellite flight performance
Acta Astronautica ; 5 , 5-6 ; 343-368
1977-09-21
26 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English