Vela 2A, also known as Vela 3, Vela Hotel 3 and OPS 3662,[3] was a U.S. military satellite developed to detect nuclear detonations to monitor compliance with the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty by the Soviet Union. The secondary task of the ship was space research (X-rays, gamma rays, neutrons, magnetic field and charged particles).
 Vela satellite. | |
| Operator | USAF |
|---|---|
| COSPAR ID | 1964-040A[1] |
| SATCAT no. | 836 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | TRW |
| Launch mass | 150 kilograms (330 lb) |
| Power | 90 W |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | July 17, 1964, 08:22 UTC |
| Rocket | Atlas LV-3A Agena-D |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral LC-13 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric[2] |
| Regime | Highly Elliptical |
| Eccentricity | 0.5262 |
| Perigee altitude | 45,585 kilometres (28,325 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 161,011 kilometres (100,048 mi) |
| Inclination | 75.15° |
| Epoch | July 10, 2017 |
Launch
editVela 2A was released on July 17, 1964, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, through an Atlas-Agena launch vehicle. Vela 2A was launched along with Vela 2B and with ERS 13.[4]
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Capabilities
editVela 2A was rotationally stabilized (2 rotations per sec.). The ship could work in real time mode (one data frame per second) or in data recording mode (one frame every 256 seconds). The first mode was used for the first 40% of the mission's duration. The second one was used until the next pair of Vela satellites were launched.
Instruments
edit- X-ray and charged particle detector
- Gamma ray detector and charged particles
- Neutron detector
- Electron and proton spectrometer
- Background radiation detector
- Solid state detector
- Geiger-Muller counters
- Magnetometer
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. "Vela 2A". Retrieved June 28, 2018.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ N2YO.com. "OPS 3662 (VELA 3)". N2YO.com. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Antonín Vítek. "1964-040A - Vela 3". Space 40. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
- ^ Wade, Mark. "Vela". Astronautix. Archived from the original on December 28, 2016. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
External links
edit
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