The Clementine spacecraft was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on January 25, 1994 in the first lunar mission in over twenty years. After spending nine days in low-Earth-orbit, the Clementine spacecraft solid rocket motor was ignited to boost the spacecraft to a transfer orbit of 250 km by 125,000 km. The solid rocket motor was designed as a radiation experiment by mounting radiation electronic components in its interstage adapter. While this interstage adapter remained in this orbit after being released from the Clementine spacecraft, the orbit of the main craft was adjusted by raising the apogee to the lunar orbit of 385,000 km. After two and one-half Earth transfer orbits, the Clementine spacecraft was successfully inserted in lunar orbit on February 19. On February 21, a burn was performed to adjust the spacecraft to the final mapping orbit of 400 km X 2940 km. The spacecraft is scheduled to stay in this mapping orbit for over 70 days, transferring to the Earth about 16,000 images a day in the ultraviolet, visible and infrared parts of the spectrum.
Clementine Program
Space Instrumentation and Dual-Use Technologies ; 1994 ; Orlando,FL,United States
Proc. SPIE ; 2214
1994-06-08
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
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