Also called:
Ocean Dynamics Satellite
Date of launch (location):
June 27, 1978 (WTR)
Launch vehicle:
Atlas F
Weight (kg):
2300
Shape:
Two-module spacecraft: cylindrical
support bus with two solar paddles; and a roughly
cylindrical sensor module with antennas and instruments
extending from it
Dimensions (m):
21.0 length
1.5 diameter
Power source:
Solar panels plus NiCd
batteries
Responsible NASA center:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Prime contractor:
Lockheed Missiles and Space
Co.
Project manager:
W. E. Giberson
Objectives:
Demonstrate techniques for global
monitoring of oceanographic data for both applications and
scientific user; demonstrate key features of an operational
ocean dynamics monitoring system.
Instruments:
Scanning Multichannel Microwave
Radiometer
Radar Altimeter
Microwave Wand Scatterometer
Synthetic Aperture Imaging
Radar
Visible and Infrared Scanning
Radiometers
Results:
Successful for 106 days when it lost
power on Oct. 10 because of a short in one of the slip-ring
assemblies used to connect the rotating solar arrays into
the power subsystem. NASA declared the satellite lost on
Nov. 21, 1978.
Reference: NASA, "Seasat 1 Mission Operations Report," E-655-78-01, June 23, 1978; and U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Space Science and Applications, SEASAT (Cost, Performance and Schedule Review), Report, 95th Cong., Ist sess. (Washington, 1977).