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FTV-2203

American reconnaissance satellite

Field	Value
name	FTV-2203
mission_type	Reconnaissance
operator	US Air Force
Harvard_designation	1962 Alpha Lambda 1
mission_duration	15-30 days (planned)
spacecraft_type	Samos-E5
launch_date	UTC
launch_rocket	Atlas LV-3A Agena-B 114D
launch_site	Point Arguello LC-1-2
disposal_type	Failed deorbit
deactivated
decay_date	31 December 1961
orbit_epoch	22 December 1961, 14:12:00 UTC
orbit_reference	Geocentric
orbit_regime	Low Earth
orbit_eccentricity	0.0334
orbit_periapsis	244 km
orbit_apoapsis	702 km
orbit_inclination	89.2 degrees
orbit_period	94.5 minutes
apsis	gee

FTV-2203, also known as Samos 5, was an American reconnaissance satellite launched in 1961 as part of the Samos programme. It was a film return reconnaissance spacecraft, meaning that it returned images in a film capsule at the end of its mission. FTV-2203 was a Samos-E5 spacecraft, based on the Agena-B. It carried a camera with a focal length of 1.67 m and a resolution of 1.5 m.

The launch

The launch of FTV-2203 occurred at 19:12:33 UTC on 22 December 1961. An Atlas LV-3A Agena-B rocket was used, flying from Launch Complex 1-2 at the Point Arguello Naval Air Station. During the launch, the first stage sustainer engine failed to shut down on time, and instead burned until all of its oxidiser had been depleted. As a result, the spacecraft reached a higher orbit than had been planned. It was assigned the Harvard designation 1961 Alpha Lambda 1.

Following launch, FTV-2203 was in a low Earth orbit with an apogee of 650 km, a perigee of 230 km, and 89.6 degrees of inclination. Within a few days of launch, it was commanded to deorbit in order to return its film capsule. This was conducted, however due to the additional altitude provided by the anomaly during launch, it was unable to fully deorbit. The burn lowered its orbit, and it reentered the atmosphere on 31 December 1961. The film capsule, which had separated following the attempted deorbit burn, decayed on 9 January 1962. The satellite had a mass of 2580 kg, and measured 10.21 m in length, with a diameter of 1.52 m.

References

"NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Trajectory Details".
Wade, Mark. "Samos". [[Encyclopedia Astronautica]].
Krebs, Gunter. "Samos E-1". Gunter's Space Page.
McDowell, Jonathan. "Launch Log". Jonathan's Space Page.
McDowell, Jonathan. "Samos 5". Jonathan's Space Page.
McDowell, Jonathan. "Satellite Catalog". Jonathan's Space Page.
"Sentry/Samos-B". FAS.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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