NASA Facts National Aeronautics and Space Administration

John F. Kennedy Space Center Kennedy Space Center, Florida 32899 AC 321-867-2468

August 2001 KSC Release No. 99-01 Athena I - Kodiak Star Mission

In 1998, Kennedy Space Center became the Starshine 3 lead center responsible for NASA’s acquisition and Starshine 3 is a student-built satellite developed management of the Expendable Launch Vehicle by the Rocky Mountain NASA Space Grant Consor- (ELV) Launch Services Program) The Program, with tium and the Naval Research Laboratory) The its vision statement, “Global Leadership in Launch satellite is a one-meter optically reflective sphere that Service Excellence,” provides launch services for weighs 220 pounds (100 kilograms)) Starshine 3 is NASA and NASA-sponsored payloads from launch covered with approximately 1500 aluminum “mirrors” sites that include Cape Canaveral Air Force Station that are one inch each in diameter) These mirrors (CCAFS), Fla; Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), were machined by technology students in Utah, with Calif; Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific; Wallops Flight the grinding and polishing of the mirrors being Facility, Va; and a new launch complex on Kodiak accomplished by students in kindergarten through Island, Alaska) twelfth grade in schools all over the world) Once Starshine 3 is in orbit, students can visually track the Athena I Kodiak Star Launch satellite with the naked eye) Students will determine Of particular impor- the coordinates of Starshine 3 and record their tance to NASA is the locations on the Starshine Project Internet web site) up-coming Kodiak Star The resulting Starshine 3 data will provide scientists Mission, which utilizes with new knowledge about how the Earth’s upper a Lockheed Martin atmosphere reacts to fluctuations in the sun’s ultra- Athena I launch violet radiation during a sunspot cycle) This knowl- vehicle) This mission is edge will help NASA improve forecasts of satellite scheduled for launch in orbit decay that will help astronauts to more precisely the Fall of 2001 and perform debris avoidance maneuvers for the Interna- will be the first orbital tional Space Station and the Space Shuttle) launch utilizing the new Launching Starshine 3 from the Kodiak Launch Kodiak Launch Com- Complex at a 67-degree inclination will allow stu- plex in Alaska) The Kodiak Star Mission will carry dents worldwide, including northern latitudes such as four satellites into Earth orbit: the NASA-sponsored Alaska, northern Canada, Scandinavia and Russia, Starshine 3, and three satellites sponsored by the to participate in the project) Worldwide student Department of Defense Space Test Program (STP): participation has not been possible on previous PICOSat, PCSat, and Sapphire) Starshine missions launched at lower inclinations Each satellite has specific orbit requirements, from the Space Shuttle) which the Athena I vehicle will accomplish by maneuvering into two separate orbits with the STP Space Test Program-Sponsored Satellites satellites being released at an altitude of 497 miles PICOSat is built by Surrey Satellite Technology (800 kilo-meters) and Starshine 3 released at an Ltd) in Guildford, United Kingdom) PICOSat’s altitude of 310 miles (500 kilometers)) mission is to fly and operate four scientific payloads: Polymer Battery Experiment (PBEX), Ionospheric Base, Calif), on Aug) 22, 1997) The first successful Occultation Experiment (IOX), Coherent Electro- launch of an Athena II carried NASA’s Lunar magnetic Radio Tomagraphy (CERTO) and Ultra- Prospector spacecraft, on a mission to study the Quiet Platform (OPPEX)) moon, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla), PBEX is designed to test the flexible polymer on Jan) 6, 1998) The most re-cent Athena launch battery for applications to space flight) IOX uses was Sept) 24, 1999, from VAFB, carrying the Global Positioning Satellite signals to measure IKONOS-2 Satellite for space imaging) ionospheric properties that impact communications and navigation signals) CERTO measures electron Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC) content of the ionosphere with the beacon signal KLC is the newest commercial launch complex in and ground-based receivers) OPPEX demonstrates the United States, located on Narrow Cape, of passive and active vibration control for position- Kodiak Island, Alaska, approximately 41 miles south sensitive sensors) of the city of Kodiak and 250 miles south of The Prototype Communications Satellite (PCSat) Anchorage) The Alaska Aerospace Development is the first in an intended line of experimental satel- Corporation (AADC) built the launch complex and lites designed, constructed and tested by midship- also operates it) The advantage to this location is its men of the United States Naval Academy) PCSat’s wide-open launch corridor and an unobstructed function is to serve as a position/status reporting and down-range flight path) The location is ideal for message communications satellite for remote trav- launching expendable launch vehicles with payloads elers using only hand-held or mobile radios) PCSat requiring low-Earth polar or sun-synchronous orbits) will augment the existing worldwide terrestrial KLC facilities utilized by the Kodiak Star Mission Amateur Radio Automatic Position Reporting System include a Launch Control and Management Center (APRS) by providing links from 90 percent of the (LCMC), Payload Processing Facility (PPF), Inte- Earth’s surface not covered by the terrestrial gration Processing Facility (IPF), Launch Service network) Structure (LSS) and Launch Pad) The Sapphire satellite was built by Space Range, vehicle and spacecraft operations are Systems Development Laboratory of Stanford conducted from the Launch Control Center (LCC) on University and will also be operated by United States launch day) The LCC also serves as the admini- Naval Academy midshipmen) Sapphire will carry strative and engineering support facility for the several experiments into orbit including a Beacon Kodiak Launch Complex) Monitoring Experiment, a Tunneling Horizon Detector Spacecraft are received, staged, processed and and a voice synthesizer microchip that will convert validated in the PPF) The PPF high bay facilities text messages into a synthesized human voice to include an airlock and a processing high bay) The allow it to “speak” to listeners over amateur radio IPF is a multifunction building for receiving and frequencies) processing equipment, components and flight hardware) It serves as a receiving, checkout and Athena Launch History vehicle stage integration facility) The Athena launch vehicle program began in The LSS and Launch Pad are unique facilities January 1993) The that allow the launch vehicle and payload to be Athena is a core com- readied for launch in an enclosed environment) A ponent of the Lockheed 75-ton bridge crane lifts the fairing to the vertical Martin Astronautics family position onto the launch pedestal) After the entire of launch vehicles, which assembly is complete, and just prior to launch, the also includes the Titan IV, surrounding service structure is rotated away) Titan II, Multi-Service Launch System, Atlas II/ III, Atlas V and Proton Web Site Addresses: vehicles) http://www)ksc)nasa)gov/elv/netscape4)html The first successful Expendable Launch Vehicle Web Site launch of an Athena I www)ksc)nasa)gov delivered the NASA- Kennedy Space Center Home Page sponsored Lewis satellite www)akaerospace)com into orbit from Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation Vandenberg Air Force