TOMS EP
| TOMS EP | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Type: | Earth observation satellite |
| Country: |
 United States
|
| Operator: |
 NASA Goddard SFC
|
| COSPAR-ID : | 1996-037A |
| Mission dates | |
| Dimensions: | 295 kg |
| Begin: | July 2, 1996, 7:48 a.m. UTC |
| Starting place: | Vandenberg AFB , L-1011 |
| Launcher: | Pegasus-XL |
| Flight duration: | 2 years |
| Status: | Out of service |
| Orbit data | |
| Rotation time : | 99 min |
| Orbit inclination : | 98.1 ° |
| Apogee height : | 735.8 km |
| Perigee height : | 697.0 km |
TOMS-EP (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer - Earth Probe) was an Earth observation satellite from Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA). He contributed to NASA 's long-term daily monitoring of the global distribution of the earth's ozone layer .
history
TOMS was selected as a Small Explorer (SMEX) under the Explorer Program in 1989 but received no funding. He was transferred to the NASA Earth Probe program. There it was finally funded and renamed TOMS-EP.
Development and tools
The satellite was built by TRW for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The T100 bus was used here. The single instrument was the TOMS-3 (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer 3). The spacecraft was 3-axis stabilized so that the TOMS instrument was aimed at the nadir with an accuracy of about 0.5 ° in steering and about 0.1 ° in determination. The TOMS-EP spacecraft bus was designed to meet all of the TOMS instrumentation requirements to support a two-year lifetime with a three-year lifetime goal.
Start delay
Start failures of the first two Pegasus XL vehicles caused a two year delay in the start of TOMS-EP. These delays changed the mission significantly. TOMS-EP was placed in a lower orbit than originally planned in order to carry out measurements in higher resolutions and to study UV-absorbing aerosols in the troposphere more thoroughly. The lower orbit therefore complemented the simultaneous measurements from the ADEOS -TOMS instrument, which was originally planned as the TOMS-EP successor.
Eventual start
TOMS-EP was launched on July 2, 1996 with a Pegasus XL rocket mounted under a Lockheed L-1011 . The aircraft had taken off from Vandenberg AFB and later landed again on a runway at Cape Canaveral (RW30 / 12).
swell
- Gunter Krebs: TOMS EP on Gunter's Space Page
Individual evidence
- ↑ TOMS-EP in the Encyclopedia Astronautica , accessed on August 7, 2017 (English).