The first satellite in a new generation of American military communications
spacecraft found itself functioning perfectly after its launch last week
– but in the wrong orbit.
A cluster of auxiliary rockets, strapped to the main rocket to boost
its power, failed to drop away after they had done their job, weighing down
the Atlas 1 rocket for the rest of its trip skyward from Cape Canaveral.
As a result, the rocket was unable to lift the so-called ultrahigh frequency
follow-on (UFO) satellite into its intended orbit.
Ground controllers had planned to use the satellite’s own, smaller manoeuvring
rocket to fine-tune its orbit over the coming six weeks. But in the wake
of the botched launch, engineers are trying to find a way of using the manoeuvring
rocket to lift the UFO to the proper altitude, 35 000 kilometres above the
Earth.
The $138 million UFO satellite – first of nine satellites to be launched
between now and 1996 – was a replacement for ageing satellites now in orbit
to provide improved satellite links for US Navy ships.
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