![ATSIII 10NOV67 153107](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/ATSIII_10NOV67_153107.jpg)
Applications Technology Satellite 3, or ATS-3, was a long-lived American experimental
geostationary
A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitude ...
weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...
and
communications satellite
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...
, operated by
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
from 1967 to 2001. It was at one time reputed to be the oldest satellite still in operation. , NASA referred to the ATS-3 as "The oldest active communications satellite by a wide margin."
On November 10, 1967, ATS-3 took NASA's first color photo
(digital image mosaic) of the full-disk Earth, which was subsequently used on the cover of the first ''
Whole Earth Catalog
The ''Whole Earth Catalog'' (WEC) was an American counterculture magazine and product catalog published by Stewart Brand several times a year between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. The magazine featured essays and articl ...
''.
History
Launched in November 1967, the ATS-3 was in service for 11 years before finally being decommissioned in 1978 along with
ATS-1
ATS-1 (Applications Technology Satellite 1) was the first experimental geostationary satellite, launched in 1966. Though intended as a communications satellite rather than as a weather satellite, it carried the Spin Scan Cloud Camera developed ...
. Among its widest-known achievements are the first full-disk, "true color"
composite Earth image (
DODGE
Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...
took color-filtered black-and-white images, put together they produced the very first color image of the full-disk).
Its imaging capability has served during disaster situations, from the
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
earthquake to the
Mount St. Helens
Mount St. Helens (known as Lawetlat'la to the indigenous Cowlitz people, and Loowit or Louwala-Clough to the Klickitat) is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United St ...
eruption.
ATS-3 experiments included
VHF and
C-band communications, a color spin-scan camera (principally developed by
Verner E. Suomi), an image dissector camera, a mechanically despun antenna,
resistojet
A resistojet is a method of spacecraft propulsion (electric propulsion) that provides thrust by heating a typically non-reactive fluid. Heating is usually achieved by sending electricity through a resistor consisting of a hot incandescent filame ...
thrusters,
hydrazine
Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a simple pnictogen hydride, and is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour. Hydrazine is highly toxic unless handled in solution as, for example, hydrazine ...
propulsion
Propulsion is the generation of force by any combination of pushing or pulling to modify the translational motion of an object, which is typically a rigid body (or an articulated rigid body) but may also concern a fluid. The term is derived from ...
, optical surface experiments, and the measurement of the electron content of the ionosphere and magnetosphere.
Because of failures in the hydrogen peroxide systems on ATS-1, ATS-3 was equipped with a hydrazine propulsion system. Its success led to its incorporation on ATS-4 and ATS-5 as the sole propulsion system.
Operational details
The satellite is in
geo-synchronous orbit above the Earth's surface. The satellite has served as a communications link for rescue operations, including the
1985 Mexico City earthquake
The 1985 Mexico City earthquake struck in the early morning of 19 September at 07:17:50 (CST) with a moment magnitude of 8.0 and a maximal Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). The event caused serious damage to the Greater Mexico City area a ...
and the
1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.
[Pae, Peter, "Satellites' Longevity Limits Sales", '']Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', December 1, 2008, p. C1.
Circa 1970, ATS-3 was used to collect images of weather patterns, especially developing hurricanes in the Western Hemisphere. 1,200 line photos were downlinked, approximately every 25 minutes, during daylight hours to NOAA's Command and Data Acquisition Station at Wallops Station, Virginia and transferred to various users. The satellite was known for its spinning beam antennas locking up and rotating with the satellite. When that happened, it took a powerful ground-based transmitter, like the one at
Mojave, to blast through digital instructions to get the antenna aimed back at earth again.
See also
*
1967 in spaceflight
The year 1967 in spaceflight saw the most orbital launches of the 20th century and more than any other year until 2021, including that of the first Australian satellite, WRESAT, which was launched from the Woomera Test Range atop an Americ ...
*
First images of Earth from space
This is a timeline of first images of Earth from space. The initial photographs and digital images of planet Earth taken from outer space were preceded by aerial photography and continue in the form of satellite imagery.
For the purpose of this ...
*
Applications Technology Satellite
The Applications Technology Satellites (ATS) were a series of experimental satellites launched by NASA, under the supervision of, among others, Wernher von Braun. The program was launched in 1966 to test the feasibility of placing a satellite i ...
References
External links
Information and trackingATS-3 16 Year In Orbit Evaluation
{{DEFAULTSORT:ATS-3
Derelict satellites orbiting Earth
Communications satellites
Weather satellites of the United States
Spacecraft launched in 1967
Applications Technology Satellites