The U.S. Air Force proposes to conduct an experiment to identify the potential environmental consequences of an inadvertent release of hydrazine rocket propellant in space, during orbital or suborbital operations. The experiment will be sponsored by the Space Defense Initiative Organization. The experiment will be managed by the U.S. Air Force Space Technology Center. The experiment will be conducted in the thermosphere of outer space, at an earth of about 300 km. The experiment will involve the ejection of three Get Away Special (GAS) satellites (one during the first and two during the second Shuttle flight) , each containing about 100 pounds of specified hydrazine fuel, plus the required circuitry for tracking and ordinance activation. The satellites will be ejected from a Space Shuttle which will be launched from Kennedy Space Center.
Environmental Impact Analysis Process Chemical Release Experiment
1999
52 pages
Report
No indication
English
Unmanned Spacecraft , Space Launch Vehicles & Support Equipment , Hydrazines , Environmental impact , Space shuttles , Space flight , Rocket propellants , Orbits , Thermosphere , Air force , Activation , Tracking , Fuels , Ejection , Strategic defense initiative , Space defense , Suborbital trajectories , Outer space