The Payload Assist Module (PAM) is a modular upper stage designed and built by

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(

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), using Thiokol Star-series solid propellant rocket motors. The PAM was used with the

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Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

, and

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launchers and carried

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s from

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

to a geostationary transfer orbit or an interplanetary course. The payload was spin stabilized by being mounted on a rotating plate. Originally developed for the Space Shuttle, different versions of the PAM were developed: * PAM-A (

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class), development terminated; originally to be used on both the Atlas and Space Shuttle, designed for satellites up to * PAM-D (

class), uses a Star-48B rocket motor, designed for satellites up to * PAM-DII (Delta class), uses a Star-63 rocket motor, designed for satellites up to * PAM-S (Special), uses a Star-48B as a kick motor for the space probe ''Ulysses'' The PAM-D module was used as an optional third stage of the classic Delta rocket. The PAM-D was discontinued after the Challenger accident. A simplified 3rd stage using the STAR-48 motor was employed on Delta II.

2001 re-entry incident

On January 12, 2001, a PAM-D module re-entered the atmosphere after a "catastrophic orbital decay". The PAM-D stage, which had been used to launch the GPS satellite 2A-11 in 1993, crashed in the sparsely populated

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n desert, where it was positively identified.

Gallery

File:PAM-D rocket stage.jpg, PAM-D stage in assembly File:SBS-3 with PAM-D stage.jpg, SBS-3 satellite with PAM-D stage being launched from File:PAM-D module crash in Saudi Arabian desert.png, Saudi officials inspect a PAM-D module that re-entered the atmosphere in 2001 File:STS-61-B SATCOM Ku-2 deployment.jpg, SATCOM KU-2 attached to a PAM-DII is being released from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis during STS-61B File:Ulysses is mated with the PAM-S.jpg, Ulysses is mated with the PAM-S

References

External links

Payload Assist Module
at the NASA Shuttle Reference Manual

at GlobalSecurity.org {{Space Shuttle Solid-fuel rockets Rocket stages Articles containing video clips