The INTELSAT IV F-3 spacecraft developed a slight wobble of 0.1 half-angle following a long firing of the system A axial thruster on Februrary 14, 1973. This thruster firing used 8.8 kg of hydrazine propellant to change the orbit inclination by 0.5 . The spacecraft attitude sensors indicated a shift in the spin axis of 0.1 with respect to the rotor body-fixed axis. The direction and magnitude of the spin axis shift of the spacecraft mass center that would result in the 8.8 kg of propellant used for the firing had come from only one system A propellant tank instead of in equal amounts from both tanks. Since blockage of the propellant line from tank 2 by dirt or corrosion seemed improbable, the hypothesis of a blocking bubble trapped in a thermal expansion loop in the propellant line was advanced and eventually proved to be correct


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Blocking bubbles in the INTELSAT IV fuel lines


    Additional title:

    Blockierungsblasen in den Brennstoffleitungen des INTELSAT IV


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Comsat Technical Review ; 4 , 2 ; 499-506


    Publication date :

    1974


    Size :

    , 1 Quelle


    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English





    Intelsat

    Sachdev, D. K. | AIAA | 2009


    INTELSAT VIII

    Neyret, P. / Nadkarni, P. / Rush, T. et al. | AIAA | 1994


    INTELSAT 4

    NTRS | 1974


    The Intelsat Arrangements

    RAUSCHENBACH, GUS | AIAA | 1975