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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS ANDSPACE ADMINISTRATION'Washington, D.

C. 20546202-755-8370

FOR RELEASE:December 12, 1974POEL2ASEO: 74-316 PROJECT: SYMPHONIE/DELTA 106

contentsGENERAL RE LEASE............................... 1-4DELTA 2914 LAUNCH VEHICLE ...................... 5SEQUENCE OF EVENTS ............................. 6MAJOR DELTA 106 SYM1PHONIE FLIGHT EVENTS........ . 7

LAUNCH OPERATIONS .............................. 8SYMPIHONIE/DELTA 106 TEAM. ...................... 8-9K4

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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS ANDSPACE ADMINISTRATIONWashington, D. C. 20546(Phone: 202/755-8370)

FOR RELEASE:December 12, 1974

Nicholas PanagakosHeadquarters, Washington, D.C.(Phone: 202/755-3680)

Joseph McRobertsGoddard Space Fliqht Center, Greenbelt, Md.(Phone: 301/982-4955)

RELEASE NO: 74-316

SYMPHONIE SET FOR DECEMBER 17 LAUNCH

NASA will launch the first French/German communicationssatellite aboard a Delta rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Fla,about Dec. 17.

The launch marks the 44th time that a non-NASA group haspurchased a Delta and complete launch services from the spaceagency.

Called Symphonie, the experimental satellite will test anddemonstrate communications equipment for television, radio, tele-phone, telegraph and data transmission. The spacecraft willprovide the equivalent of two channels of color televisiontransmission and eigit voice channels, or 1,200 telephone circuits.

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Traveling at a speed that maintains its position inrelation to the Earth's surface, Symphonie will be located35,900 kilometers (22, 300 miles) over the equator at 11.5degrees west longitude.

The satellite will be capable of transmitting betweenground stations in portions of North and South America, Europe,Africa and the Middle East.

Weighing 402 kg (886 lbs.), the spacecraft has a diameterof 1.85 m (6.06 ft.) and a height of 0.5 m (1.64 ft.). Theapogee motor engine and nozzle, super high frequency antennafeed and reflectors, and the reception horn and solar sensorsare mounted on top. The VHF antennas are on the underside.Three attached solar panels extend outward 2.57 m (8.3 ft.)from the spacecraft.

Power is generated by the solar panels; two batteriessupply power for spacecraft housekeeping during eclipses, whentransmitting equipment cannot be operated.

Liquid fuel is used for Symphonie's apogee motor, whichwill be ignited by ground command to place the satellite intoits final synchronous orbit. This marks the first use ofliquid fuel for the apogee motor of a spacecraft planned forsynchronous orbit.

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The Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (STDN) andminitrack tracking stations of NASA's Goddard Space FlightCenter, Greenbelt, Md., hill track Svmphonie during the trans-fer orbit (launch-through-apogee motor firing) in cooperationwith French and German ground stations. Data will go via theNASA station in Madrid to the Operations Control Centers atOberpfaffenhofen near Munich, Gerniany, and at Toulouse, France.

The French-German Svmphonie organization consists of theFrench space agency, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES),and the German counterpart, Gesellschaft fur Weltraumforschung(GFW). A Franco-German industrial consortium, ConsortiumIndustriel Franco-Allerand pour Synphonie (CIFAS), is theprime contractor. Three German and three French companiesmake up the consortium. The French firms are Societe NationaleAerospatiale, Societe Anonyme de m-Ipcommunications (S.A.T.)and Thomson-CSF. Germanv's are AEG-Telefunken, Messerschmitt-BoelkowBlohm (I3BB)and Siemens, A.4.

The Goddard Center manages Delta projects and the prime

contractor is McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co., HuntingtonBeach, Calif.

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Delta Project Manager is Robert Baumann, GSFC. PeterEaton, Office of Space Science, NASA Headquarters, is DeltaProgram Manager.

The Symphonie Project is managed by a Franco-GermanExecutive Committee. The French executive secretary is BernardDeloffre and the German executive secretary is Dr. George Moesl.Dr. Buck Pfeiffer is Sytphonie Satellite Group Manager. PierreMadon is CIFAS Project Group Manager.

The Symphonie launch window extends from 9:38 p.m. to10:09 p.m. EST.

(END OF GENERAL RELEASE. BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOLLOWS.)

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DELIT. 2914 LAUNCH VEIIICLI:

The spacecraft will be launched by a three-stage Deltalaunch vehicle, which has an overall length of approximately35 meters (116 feet), and a maximum body diameter of 2.4 meters(8 feet). The Delta launch vehicle has a success-to-launchratio of 90 percent for the past 14 years.First Stage

The first stage is a McDonnell-Douglas modified Thorbooster incorporating nine strap-on Thiokol solid-fuel rocketmotors. The booster is powured bi a Rocketdyne engine usingliquid oxygen (LOX) aind liquid hydrocarbon propellants.The main engine is gimbal-mounted to provide pitch ai.3 yawcontrol from liftoff to main-engine cutoff (MECO). Two liquid-propellant vernier engines provide roll control throughoutfirst stage operation and pitch and yaw control from MECO toseparation of the first and second stages.Second Stage

The second stage is powered by a TRWP liquid-fuel pressure-fed engine that also is gimbal-mounted to provide pitch andyaw control through second-stage burn. ..nitrogen gas systemusing eight fixed nozzles provides -oll control during poweredand coast flight as well as pitch and yaw control during coastand after second-stage cutoff (Sl:CO).Two fixed nozzles, fedby the propellant-tank helium-pressurization system, provideretro-thrust after third-stage scLaration.Third Stage

The third stage is the TE-364-4 spin-stabilized solid-propellant Thiokol motor. The tniird-stagje motor is securedin a spin table mounted to the second stage. The firing ofeight solid propellant rockets fixed to the spin tableaccomplishes spinup of the third ;tage assembly.Injection into Synchronous Orbit

The spacecraft apogee motor will bh fired at the fourthapogee, about 40 hours after launch. This maneuver will placeth e spacecraft in circular orbit at synchronous altitude abovethe equator. The spacecraft will be moved from the apogeefiring location to its final station of 11.5 degrees west longi-tude. About a month after launch, following checkout of theonboard communications systems, the spacecraft will becomeoperational.

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SEQUENCE OF EVENTS

TIME (SEC) EVENT0.00 Stage 1 liftoff

38.190 (6) Solid Motors Burnout39.000 (3) Solid Motor Igaition87.000 Jettison (9) solid motor gasings

227.612 Main engine cutoff233.617 Vernier engine cutoff

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MAJOR DELTA 106 SYMPHONIE FLIGHT EVENTS

EVENT TIME ALTITUDE (Mi.) VELOCITY (Feet P,rSecond)

Liftoff 0 seconds 0Six solid motor burncut 38 seconds 4 2150Throe solia motor ignition 39 seconds 4 2150Thre'- solid motor burnout- I min. 17 sec. 14 3600N!n.o solid motor Jetlison I nin. 27 isec. 16 4'110Main engine cut-off (i',ECU) 3 min. 48 sec. 57 17,700First/secornd stage separation 3 min. 56 sec. 60 17,700Second staCci ignition 4 min. 1 sec. 62 17,700Fairing jettison 4 min. A0 sec. 78 18,t50Second stage first cut-off (SECO1) 8 min. 50 sec. 105 26,100Second stage restart 24 min. 5 sec. 231 25,350Second stage second cut-off(SECO2) 24 min. 22 sec. 234 25,800Third stage spin up 25 min. 14 sec. 244 25,700Second/third stage separation 25 min. 16 sec. 244 25,700Third stage ignition 25 min. 57 sec. 252 25,650Third stage burnout 26 min. 40 sec. 263 33,100Third stage/spacecraft separation 27 min. 54 sec. 298 32,900

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LAUNCH OPERATIONSThe John F. Kennedy Space Center's Unmanned LaunchOperations Directorate plays a key role in the preparationand launch of the three-stage, thrust-augmented Delta rocketcarrying the Symphonie-A spacecraft.TI.a Delta 106 first stage was erected on Pad B at Com-plex 17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov. 24. Fourof the nine solid strap-on rocket motors were mated with thefirst stage on Nov. 24 and the remaining five were mated onNov. 25. The Delta second stage was erected on Nov. 26. TheSymphonie spacecraft was received at KSC on Oct. 15, checked

out in Hangar S at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and movedto the pad for mating with Delta. The payload fairing whichwill protect Symphonie during its flight through the atmos-phere will be placed atop Delta 106 four ddys before launch.The three-day countdown leading to launch is conductedby a joint NASA/industry team.

SYMPHONIE/DELTA 106 TEAM

NASA HeadquartersDr. Noel Hinners Associate Administratorfor Space ScienceJohn Thole Deputy Associate Administratorfor Space ScienceJoseph Mahon Director, Launch Vehiclesand PropulsionPeter Eaton Manager, Delta Program

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Kennedy Space CenterMiles Ross Acting Director

John J. Neilon Director, UnmannedLaunch

Operations

HuhA.WTn r. Manager, Delta LaunchHugh A. Weston, -r. Operations

William R. Fletcher, Jr. Manager, Delta Spacecraftoperations

Goddard Space Flight Center

Dr. John F. Clark Director

Robert Baumann Delta ProjectManager

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