Start Date
4-1968 8:00 AM
Description
The Nimbus II satellite has been in orbit 20 months (to January 15, 1968), operating well within design specifications as a carrier spacecraft for meteorological instruments.
This spacecraft includes a three axis active attitude control system which itself is more complex than many other satellites and their included payloads. An essential element of the total development of Nimbus is the intensive and extensive test and evaluation programs at the General Electric Company, to which the prototype/qualification and flight spacecraft were exposed, coupled with selected design features which contribute to long life. Although a rigid causal relation cannot be established between the programs' administrative and technical activities associated with the design of the spacecraft, integration of payloads and the test and evaluation program, and the long-life on-orbit performance experienced, they are considered important contributing factors. This paper reviews: the essential elements of the General Electric Company's program, long-life aspects of the spacecraft f s basic design, the fundamental philosophies which guide the test and evaluation program, the multiple nature of the test and evaluation program, review and analysis of failures encountered in the systems test programs from fabrication to alunch and of anomalies encountered in the orbital performance, and some representative lessons learned from the program which can be applied directly to other long life space programs.
Test and Evaluation Aspects of the Nimbus II Program Useful to Other Long Life Space Programs
The Nimbus II satellite has been in orbit 20 months (to January 15, 1968), operating well within design specifications as a carrier spacecraft for meteorological instruments.
This spacecraft includes a three axis active attitude control system which itself is more complex than many other satellites and their included payloads. An essential element of the total development of Nimbus is the intensive and extensive test and evaluation programs at the General Electric Company, to which the prototype/qualification and flight spacecraft were exposed, coupled with selected design features which contribute to long life. Although a rigid causal relation cannot be established between the programs' administrative and technical activities associated with the design of the spacecraft, integration of payloads and the test and evaluation program, and the long-life on-orbit performance experienced, they are considered important contributing factors. This paper reviews: the essential elements of the General Electric Company's program, long-life aspects of the spacecraft f s basic design, the fundamental philosophies which guide the test and evaluation program, the multiple nature of the test and evaluation program, review and analysis of failures encountered in the systems test programs from fabrication to alunch and of anomalies encountered in the orbital performance, and some representative lessons learned from the program which can be applied directly to other long life space programs.
Comments
No other information or file available for this session.