Orion 3 was an American spacecraft which was intended for use by
Orion Network Systems, as a
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 ...
communications satellite. It was to have been positioned in geostationary orbit at a
longitude
Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east–west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter l ...
of 139° East, from where it was to have provided communications services to
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
and
Oceania
Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...
.
Due to a malfunction during launch, it was instead delivered to a useless
low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...
.
Orion 3 was constructed by
Hughes Space and Communications
The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company was known for producing, among other prod ...
, based on an
HS-601HP satellite bus
A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held.
Bus-derived satellites are opposed to specially produced satellites. Bus-d ...
. It was equipped with 10 G/H band (IEEE C band) and 33 J band (IEEE K
u band)
transponder
In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend word, blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''.
In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a T ...
s, and at launch it had a mass of . The satellite was expected to remain operational for around fifteen years.
Orion Network Systems merged with
Loral Space & Communications
Loral Space & Communications Inc. is a Delaware-domiciled satellite communications company headed by Michael B. Targoff. The company was formed in 1996 from the remnants of Loral Corporation when Loral divested its defense electronics and syste ...
in 1999 after the Orion 3 launch failure.
Launch
The Orion 3 satellite was launched on the second flight of the
Delta III
Delta III was an expendable launch vehicle made by Boeing. The vehicle was developed from the highly-successful Delta II to help meet the launch demand of larger satellites. The first Delta III launch was on August 26, 1998. Of its three flights ...
rocket, using the standard 8930 configuration. The launch occurred from
Space Launch Complex 17B at the
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida.
Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the statio ...
, at 01:00:00 GMT on 5 May 1999.
The first stage and
solid rocket motor
A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; they were used in warfare by the Arabs, Chinese, Persians ...
s performed as expected, and the first burn of the second stage was conducted as planned, injecting the spacecraft into low Earth orbit. Following this, the rocket entered a
coast phase
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons c ...
, before the second stage restarted for what was planned to be a 162-second burn to insert Orion 3 into a
geosynchronous transfer orbit
A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is a type of geocentric orbit. Satellites that are destined for geosynchronous (GSO) or geostationary orbit (GEO) are (almost) always put into a GTO as an intermediate step f ...
.
Around 3.4 seconds after igniting, the
RL-10-B-2 engine of the second stage cut off after a malfunction was detected, leaving the spacecraft in an orbit of around , with 29.5° inclination.
It was the second failure of an RL-10 powered rocket in less than a week, after the
Centaur
A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse.
Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...
upper stage of a
Titan IV
Titan IV was a family of heavy-lift space launch vehicles developed by Martin Marietta and operated by the United States Air Force from 1989 to 2005. Launches were conducted from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Vandenberg Air For ...
rocket failed during the launch of
USA-143
Milstar (Military Strategic and Tactical Relay) is a constellation of military communications satellites in geosynchronous orbit, which are operated by the United States Space Force, and provide secure and jam-resistant worldwide communications ...
on 30 April,
although this incident was later attributed to a programming error.
An investigation later determined that the failure of Orion 3's launch was due to the wall of the RL-10
combustion chamber
A combustion chamber is part of an internal combustion engine in which the fuel/air mix is burned. For steam engines, the term has also been used for an extension of the firebox which is used to allow a more complete combustion process.
Interna ...
being breached. The investigation found that it was likely that the breach in the chamber was along one of the seams where the chamber had been soldered. On this engine, one of those seams had failed during a
static firing
Launch vehicle system tests assess the readiness of a launch system to safely reach orbit. Launch vehicles undergo system tests before they launch. A wet dress rehearsal (WDR) and a more extensive static fire tests a fully assembled launch vehicl ...
, and despite subsequent repair, it was suspected that the same seam had failed again.
The orbit of the Orion 3 satellite was raised slightly, and its inclination reduced, using onboard propulsion.
It was left in an orbit with a perigee of , an apogee of , and 29° inclination.
Its operators received
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
247 million in insurance for the loss of the satellite, which was turned over to its insurers.
The insurers considered asking
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 ...
to fly a
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
mission to attach a solid rocket motor to the satellite, which would have been used to correct its orbit. The Shuttle mission would have been similar to
STS-49
STS-49 was the NASA maiden flight of the Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'', which launched on May 7, 1992. The primary goal of its nine-day mission was to retrieve an Intelsat VI satellite, Intelsat 603, which failed to leave Low Earth orbit two yea ...
, which reboosted
Intelsat 603
Intelsat 603 or IS-603, previously named Intelsat VI F-3, is a communications satellite operated by Intelsat. Launched in 1990, it was the second of five Intelsat VI satellites to be launched. The Intelsat VI series was constructed by Hughes Airc ...
following the failure of its launch on a
Commercial Titan III
The Commercial Titan III, also known as CT-3 or CT-III, was an American expendable launch system, developed by Martin Marietta during the late 1980s and flown four times during the early 1990s. It was derived from the Titan 34D, and was original ...
. Unlike with Intelsat 603, however, Orion 3 would have needed to perform a
Lunar
Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon".
Lunar may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games
* "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta
* "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album ''Prior t ...
flyby to reduce inclination.
NASA considered attaching cameras and a scientific payload to the satellite for the flyby,
however reboosting the satellite was subsequently deemed to not be sufficiently cost-effective, and Orion 3 was abandoned.
See also
*
1999 in spaceflight
The table below shows 208 satellite launches were made in 1999. 81 ''(39%)'' of these launches were communications satellites.
Launches
, colspan=8,
January
, -
, colspan=8,
February
, -
, colspan=8,
March
, ...
References
{{Orbital launches in 1999
Satellites using the BSS-601 bus
Spacecraft launched in 1999
Satellite launch failures
Space accidents and incidents in the United States