TDRS-9
TDRS-9, known before launch as TDRS-I, is an American communications satellite which is operated by NASA as part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. It was constructed by the Boeing Satellite Development Center, formerly Hughes Space and Communications, and is based on the BSS-601 satellite bus. It was the second Advanced TDRS, or second-generation Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, to be launched.
History
An Atlas IIA rocket was used to launch TDRS-I, under a contract with International Launch Services. The launch occurred at 22:59 GMT on 8 March 2002, and used Space Launch Complex 36A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Deployment and problems
TDRS-9 separated from its carrier rocket into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. At 06:00 on 6 October, following a series of apogee burns, it reached geostationary orbit. The orbit raising manoeuvres were originally scheduled to take ten days, but ended up lasting six months due to a problem with the system used to pressurise its number two fuel tank. A valve used to release helium into the tank failed to open. This was later established to have been due to a wiring error prior to launch. Engineers developed a solution which involved pressurising the tank using the pressurisation system from the number one tank, which was still working, once the propellent in that tank had been used. When orbit raising operations resumed on 19 March, it was estimated that it would take two months to raise the satellite's orbit. It was later discovered that only using fuel from the number one tank upset the satellite's centre of mass, causing the satellite to tumble when its main engines were fired. Controllers were able to compensate for this, however it took longer to raise the orbit as a result.
Podcasts:
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by Asia
Tears
by: AsiaTears in my eyes
Tears in my eyes
Feeling like there's nothing left to say
Maybe I should wait for another day, one more day
Tried to find myself, but now you're gone
I had to find the strength to carry on, carry on
Ghosts of love will come, now the light is gone
Haunting my soul, never letting go
Losing you would always be my fear
Never knowing if you'd still be here, still be here
Remembering the words you said to me
Saying that you had to set me free, set me free
Run through the fields like a child who's closing the door
(Lonely like the wind)
You're feeling the wind, now the sun don't shine
(Echoes back again)
Tears in my eyes, how they fall like rain to the floor
(Ghosts of love will come)
Where do you go when the summer's gone?
(Now the light is gone)
Walking away is the same as closing the door
(Haunting my soul)
Can you look at the sky when the sun don't shine?
(Never letting go)
Look in my eyes, you can see my dreams on the floor
(Through my broken dreams)
Where do I go now the summer is gone?
(Hear you calling me)
Tears in my eyes, how they fall like rain to the floor
(Ghosts of love will come)
Where do you go when the summer's gone?
(Now the light is gone)
Walking away is the same as closing the door
(Haunting my soul)
Can you look at the sky when the sun don't shine?
(Never letting go)
Look in my eyes, you can see my dreams on the floor
(Through my broken dreams)
Where do I go now the summer is gone?
(Hear you calling me)
Run through the fields like a child who's closing the door
(Lonely like the wind)
You're feeling the wind, now the sun don't shine
(Echoes back again)
Tears in my eyes, how they fall like rain to the floor
(Ghosts of love will come)
Where do you go when the summer's gone?
(Now the light is gone)
Walking away is the same as closing the door
(Haunting my soul)
Can you look at the sky when the sun don't shine?
(Never letting go)
Look in my eyes, you can see my dreams on the floor
(Through my broken dreams)
Where do I go now the summer is gone?