NEWS R E L E A S E

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

1520 H STREET. NORTHWEST . W A S H I N G T O N 2 5 . D. C
TELEPHONES: DUDLEY 2 - 6 3 2 5 . EXECUTIVE 3 - 3 2 6 0

FOR RELEASE: HOLD UNTIL LAUNCH

PROJECT ECHO
PAYLOAD AND EXPERIMENT
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On todays's launch from the Atlantic Missile Range the United

States will attempt to place a 100-foot-diameter inflatable sphere
into a circular, 1000-mile-altitude orbit. Once in orbit, the
large inflatable structure will be used as a reflector for a series
of passive comunications satellite experiments. The sphere will
be launched by a Delta three stage rocket.
The sphere was fabricated of DuPont Mylar Polyester film, 21
mil (.OOO5 inches) thick, about half the thickness of the cellophane on
a cigapette Qackage. The satellite's shell is covered with vapor-
deposited aluminum to provide radio wave reflectivity of 98$, up
to frequencies of 20,000 mc.
Satellite weight breakdown is: plastic sphere - 132 pounds;
aluminium covering - 4 pounds; sublimating powder (to provide in-
flation) - 30 pounds; two tracking beacons - 1.4 pounds. The con-
tainer which carries the sphere into orbit weighs 24 pounds; the
Delta third-stage casing which will follow the sphere into orbit
weighs about 50 pounds.

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The sphere will be launched in a southeasterly direction so
that the orbital plane will be inclined about 47 degrees from the
equator. Traveling about 16,000 miles per hour, the satellite will
circle the Earth about once every two hours. The belt covered by
the orbiting satellite will extend 47 degrees north and south of
the equator. During twilight and evening the sphere, when over-
head, will be as visible as a zero magnitude star, about as bright
as the star Vega.
Today's launching is part of a long-range program designed to
investigate the feasibility of global communications systems using
satellites.
One of the primary missions of the national space program is
to develop the necessary technology to enable scientists to channel
the knowledge they are gaining about space and space vehicles into
areas directly benefiting mankind. One o f the "practical applications"
o f space research is in the field of communications.
During the last few years, it has been increasingly apparent
that communications lines are- becoming overcrowded. Telephone and
telegraph lines are barely able to keep up with the demand. Future
demands on trans-oceanic telephone cables which are alpeady carry-
ing a heavy burden, will continue to grow. Worldwide TV trans-
mission is still n o t a reality.
Although scientists aren't predicting the end of telephone and
TV transmission as we know it today, they do think that earth

satellites will someday provide a much greater capability for global

communications. Experimentation in this direction will one day lead
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to worldwide W, f o r instance, In the years %s come9 communications
satellites might a l s o Serve as relay s t a t i o n s fop messages to and
from space vehicles,
The NASA's communications program is direeked toward determin-
ing the optimum systems for va~iousapplications and the technology
from which such systems can be engineered, Investigation of' a
passive reflector comunicatisns sysbern, in which radio signals
(including voice-modulated signals) can be bounced from one paint
on E a r t h to another via a satellite, is the i"frs%s t e p in the program,
The first experiment in this Investiga%ion is Project Echo,
John R , Pierce, o f Bell Telephone bbesatmories,,has been
credited with the f i r s t concrete reconmendation of the use sf
artificial Earth satellites as c o m u n i e a t i o n s links, Hfa techrraisal
paper was published in 1955* Appmpriately Bell Telephone H;abc~x3a-
tories, under c o n t r a c t to NASA, has joined w i t h t h e NASA ;e%;
Propullsion Laboratory to perfom a ; n a $ o ~r o l e in ths Echo proJe:ct,
Although P r o j e c t Echo is an experiment dfreeted by NASA, en-
dependent researchers in the eosnaralrwieatSom f i e l d the W O F07n3?
I~

have been invited to engage in experiments sf t h e i r own, The 900-

foot sphere hasp in effect, beeoEe a wo~ldwidelabg?ratory t x ~ l , I n
this regard, NASA is assisting all of theas Interested exper%men%??s
i n the performance of their own experfme~tsby pr oviding "sasaeking daCn,
The payload was developed under the d%rectiow o f William J,
QgSuElivan, Head of the Space Vehicles Gssoup f n the Applied Materia28
and Physics Division, at NASA!s Langley Research Cewtep, The
satellite is made of 82 separate f l a t g o r s a sf my la^ polyester ftlm
previously covered with 8 thin coating o f vapor-deposited aluminum,
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These gores a r e f i t t e d and cemented togethex? t o Form t h e sphere.
F a b r i c a t i o n o f t h e spheFe was the rexponsiSiPiSy of' G o T, S c h j e l d a h l
Company, N o r t h f i e l d , Minnesota, The National M e t a l l i z i n g Division o f
Standard Packaging Corp., Trenton, New J e r s e y , was r e s p o n s i b l e f o r
the aluminum covering.
Before l a u n c h h g , about 30 pounds o f sublimating powders are
i n s e r t e d i n t h e sphere. IS i s t h e n f o l d e d accordlan-fashio9 and
placed inside a 26$-ineh-diameter magnesium c o n t a i n e r which will
carry it i n t o orbit, (Kaiser-Fleetwings, I n c , , Bristol, Pa., made
the container,) B o t h sphere and c o n t a i n e r a r e pumped almsst e n t i r e l y
f r e e o f a i r t o decpcase i n f l a t h n rahe at al'cl'c~.de,
Two w a f e r - l i k e t r a c k i n g beacons, each welghing 11 ounce^^ are
a t t a c h e d t o o p p o s i t e s i d e s o f t h e sphere at; i t s e q u a t o r , They were
developed by A s t r o - E l e c t r o n i c Products D i v i s i o n of Radio Corporation
o f America. With a power o u t p u t o f about 10 mw, each w i l l transmit
on the same frequency -- e i t h e r 107,,97
me OF lS7.9b mc depending
which of two payloads i s used, Each beacon, about PO %riches i n
diameter and 3/8-inch t h i c k , i s equipped w i t h 70 sslar c e l l a five
nickel-cadmium s t o r a g e b a t t e r i e s A small whip antenna, coiled i.n'a

8 s p i r a l groove i n each beacon, will s p r i n g ouk; from the s f C e o f &.e

sphere when i t i n f l a t e s ,
The t h i r d stage o f t h e D e l t a vehicle is equipped with a
telemetry package. The third-stage c a s i n g w i l l f o l l o w t h e s a t e l l i t e

c l o s e l y d u r i n g t h e f i r s t few o r b i t s , and i t s s i g n a l s (lQ8,064 ne)

w i l l assist i n determining t h e sphere's i n i t i a l ~ r b i t . The t e l e m e t r y
will a l s o show payload s e p a r a t i o n from t h i r d stage which should OCCXP

shortly after i n j e c t i o n i n t o m b i t 0

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About two minutes after the payload is injected into orbit,
the magnesium container will be split open by an explosive charge
placed around its middle. The inflatable sphere is released from
its container and gradually begins to inflate with the expansion
of the small mount of residual air left inside, Thirty pounds of
sublimating powders cause additional inflation: 10 pounds of benzoic
acid provide the initial expansion and 20 pounds of anthraqufnone
provide f o r sustained inflation.
There are two primary stations taking part in the Projec%
Echo communications experiment::Bell Telephone Laboratories! f a c i l i t y
at Holmdel, New Jerseyl and the NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory's
Goldstone station %n California. Radio signals will be bounced be-
tween the East and West Coasts of the U,S. via the orbiting satellite,
Following establishment of accurate orbit by beacon, radard
and optical tracking, voice modulation transmission will be attempted
using frequency modulation (FM) techniques
During the experiment, BTL will transmit on a frequency of
960 m:/s for reception at Goldstone, JPL will transmit a 2390 meis
signal t o BTE on the East Coast, Equipment at Goldstone includes
two 85-fo~t-dimete~
paraboloid antennas -- one a receiver and the
other a transm%$ter, BTL will transmit with a 60-foot dish and will
receive with a. special horn-reflector antenna, This antenna, which
looks generally like the scoop of a s t e m shoveld f a a recent develop-
ment designed to cut down radio noise interference,
Since JPL is a primary souce of tracking, NASA will n o t try 8

communications experiment until a good orbit has been establfshed.

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Once accurate orbital elements have been obtained, signals will be
bounced tetween the East and West Coasts,
Communications equipments of both JPL and BTL have been exer-
cised by bouncing signals between them via the moon and the Tiros I
meteorological satellite.
Here is a description of the operations involved in the
communications experiment:
The NASA Goddard Space Flight Computing Center will send orbital
calculations to JPL and BTL, These orbital data will be used to
position the receiving and transmitting equipment. The transmitting
antenna is "slaved" to the receiving antenna at each site so that
the satellite will be "illuminated" by radio waves. Following ac-
quisition at Goldstone, its transmitter and receiver can be used as
a self-tracking radar system. An optical boresight system which can
be used when visibility conditions exist will assist the trackers in
satellite acquisition,
To set up a communication link, BTL will illuminate the sphere
with a 960 mc/s signal, This signal will bounce off the satellite
in all directions. A portion of the scattered energy will be pieked

up by the Goldstone station where the receiver is pointed toward the

satellite. To complete the communication link, Goldstone will
transmit in the same manner a 2390 mc/s signal for reception at BTL.
Transmitted power will average about 10 kw,
The time of mutual visibility between the East and West Coasts
for any one pass of the sphere is not expected to exceed 16 minutes,
Among others, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory will cooperate
in the experiment by attempting to receive signals from JPL at its

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facility at Stump Neck, Md., and in addition will attempt t o transmit
to BTL.
The sphere will be in continuous sunlight for about two weeks,
After this time, the satellite's orbit and the Earth's rotation
around the sun will be such that the sphere will be in the EarthPs
shadow.
Sunlight plays an important part in maintaining the spherels
shape, The sublimating powders turn into gas at temperatures
slightly above freezing. Unless in sunlight, the temperature of
the satellite will be well below freezing. In continuous sunlight
the sphere's temperature will average about 239 degrees F,
Once out of sunlight, gases used to keep the satellite inflated
w i l l return to a solid state. Scientists are interested bo learn if
and. in what form the satellite will re-inflate when returning to
sunlight. There is a question as to the amount of sublimating powders
remaining after two weeks. Some will have seeped out through what-
ever punctures exist from micrometeorites. Unless the satellite
returns to its spherical shape, it will not be useful f o r communi-
cations experiments because of the non-uniformity of reflected
signals from a misshapen surface.
The internal satellite pressure at altitude will be about
.00004 pounds per square inch, Scientists estimate that this
pressure is at least 25,000 times the pressure due to solar radiation
and air drag.
The Echo satellite, with a surface of about 31,000 square feet,
is a large, lightweight structure as opposed to the Earth satellites
with higher densities which have been launched before. The effects
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of air drag and solar radiation on a three-foot metal payload
of the same weigh6 as Echo would be negligible, These forces
will, however, influence the velocity and orbit of the 100-foot
sphere, Scientists will be interested to find out how much,
This can be done by comparing orbital data of the sphere with
the Delta third-stage casing.
What effect will micrometeorite impact have on the sphere?
Scientists predict that under expected conditions the sphere
w i l l remain physically usable as a reflector for at least a
week, A week's lifetime would be extremely valuable to the
communications experimenters. Despite a number of space
experiments concerning micrometeorite impact, the status of
technical knowledge of their number, size, energy, and size
of hole they produce is in an early stage of evolution. The
Echo experiment should add t o the fund of knowledge now
building on the subject,
The first attempt to orbit the 100-foot inflatable sphere,
May 13, 1960, was not successful due to a malfunction in the
launching vehicle. However, the sphere has undergone a number
of pre-orbital flight tests under the supervision of the
Langley Research CenSer, General Mills, Inc,, Minneapolis,
Minn., took part in the initial development of this type of
inflatable structure, These suborbital launches from NASA's
Wallops Station on Virginia's eastern shore began October 28,
1959. These shots were used to test the inflation and ejection
techniques of the Echo sphere, This type of testing is part of a

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NASA program aimed a t research on advanced i n f l a t a b l e space
structures,
I n addition t o the suborbital s h o t , last October i n which t h e
sphere a t t a i n e d an a l t i t u d e of 250 miles and distance out over the
A t l a n t i c of 500 miles, o t h e r launches were: January 16, up 250
miles and out 490 miles; February 27, up 225 miles and out 540
miles; A p r i l 1, up 200 miles and out 570 miles; May 31, up 210
miles and out 540 miles.
Leonard J a f f e i s NASA's Chief o f Communications S a t e l l i t e
Programs. Robert J. Mackey, Jr, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,
i s Echo Project Manager, Echo Project d i r e c t o r for B e l l Telephone
Laboratories i s W i l l i a m Jakes. W. K. Victor i s project d i r e c t o r
f o r the J e t Propulsion Laboratory.

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 No. 2
8/69

J&JyCE ;T,yz:m

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This i s t h e second launch of tke Sel-tn -~rehic:ie. !-3xf4--.+ *lVCl,.>
7r%- 83

unsuccessful attempt t o lauich a 100-foot i n f k t a b l e sphere May 13, 1960.

The DougJ..as Aircraft Conpaay7 Ix tc:.Lz;r cs~<:ac5 'io 2L.4SA7 is

responsible for i t s development. The $24 a i l l i o n coctract, sigmd. in l a t e

April 1959, c a l l e d for production mC; aevelcpne~t,of 12 3el'ie.s to be ussd

f o r a v.wieJiy of satellite 2nd deep space xKs:$.frx$,s(J:-J.- . rgGrJ ar16 1963.
The Delta w c l l l d be what NASA AlW.nis5rator '2. Kei.th G h m a z e a l l a d

"a much needed interim vehizle" f o r u s e m - t i 2 niwe p o w e r f d EKE

a r e ready.

The contract vas the f i r s t that M A signed d i r e c t l y w i t h :~.-&~s%,y

f o r development of laulrch vehicles. With otiier veh?_iclc:s, (x-:

'"a-
p1

Department of Defense and l&er assig3ed to X U A , contract rmLmgernext l i s

conducted for NASA by a m i l i t a r y agency. %is i s trile, f o r exmple, i n

t h e case of t h e U. S . A i r Force B a l l i s t i c Missile Dlvislol: f o r Atlas-JV~ks

and Thor-Ables .
The Delta stands 92 f e e t high and has a m i m m . diameter of e i g h t f e e t .

I t s fueled weight on t h e pad 5s a l i t t l e less tlmn U 2 , O O O pounds. Its

Rocketdyne f i r s t - stage engine develops 150,000 poii-ds t h r u s t .

I n configuration, Delta i s similar t o Thor-Able. PJew f e a t a - e s j-n

Delta a r e an improved a u t o p i l o t and radio gdldarcz sys.tem for f i r s t and

second stage powered f l i g h t and precise a t t i t u d e control f o r t h e longer

coast period between second stage bumout and third stage i g n l t f o 3 .

The f i r s t stage of Delta i s a Douglas SM-75 Thor intermediate range

b a l l i s t i c m i s s i l e without t h e Thor guidance system a d with ab-&or t o receive

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the second stage. The first stage weighs about 100,000 pomds fueled and has

a t h r u s t of approximately l 5 O , O O O poiu?d.s e It i s propelled by l i q u i d oxyge-3

and kerosene.

The second stage i s an Aercjet-General AJl0-118 l i q u i d engihi

me which

was modified from the aecorid s t w e of Vasgpzd arm2 Thor-Able vehicles. IC,

weighs more thar? 4,000 pounds and develops a t h r u s t of about 7,500 poup1d.s.

The stage, paclraget?.by Dougles, a l s o corbaiss a p i d a n c e compartment f o r

t h e Bell Teleplnoiw 2abo::atories radio gaidance system. Co-contractor with

Bell f o r t h e grcidmce systen i s Rerni-w>ox Eand UnSvac of St. Paul, K i m .

The t h i r d stage i s ari A-llegany Sallis-tics Laboratory

P C ABL-248 s o l i d
propellaxt rocket a l s o origiiiated for the Y m g a r d and TS?or--ilble e 1% weighs
more than 500 pounds including propellant end produces a t h r u s t of about

3,000 pounds. I n the stage, a l s o b u i l t by rhuglds, the ~ ~ ~ - motor

2 4 8 is
mounted on a spin t a b l e .

I n the f i r i n g sequence, the %or f i r s t stage provides about 160

seconds of powered f l i g h t during which the rocket i s gJic2ed by the Bell

Telephone Laboratories Guibnce Systerr. art?,roll and p i t c h programmers.

A t burnout of t h e Thor, it separates and see-ei-iters t h e atmosphere.

The second stage i g n i t e s almost i m e l l i a t e l y a f t e r f i r s t stage

cut-off. After 20 seconds of powered flight t h e nose f a i r i n g which

protected t h e payload and t h i r d stage during launch i s j e t t i s o n e d .

The second stage f i r e s for about 1.15 seeonas a l s o being s-teeredby t h e

BTL guidance system.

After t h e second stage i s c o m n d e d o f f , t h e vehicle coasts f o r

about 15 minutes with t h e second stage s t i l l attached. During t h i s period,

t h e vehicle and payload coasts some 800 miles up i n t o spaxe and about

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 - 3 -
2300 miles down range. I t s a t t i t u d e i s cofitrolled during coast.
After coEst, i n rapid sequence, the t h i r d stage i s s y m up t o 120 spm

by small spin rockets t o s t a b i l i z e i t s f l i g h t , the t h i r d stage i g n i t e s , and

t h e second stage i s separated by explosive b o l t s . The t h i r d stage f i r e s f o r

about 11.0 seconds achieving orbital velocity aC'about 16,000 miles per hour.

After t h i r d stage burnout, de-spin rockets slow t h e r o t a t i o n . The

empty t h i r d stage casing, weighing abcu-b 50 pounds, i s separatekl from t h e

paylced by a s p r i n ~uhich r e t a r d s i t s velocity and i s tumbled by a l a t e r a l

rocket so it w i l l not i n t e r f e r e with t h e payload.

A telemetry transmitter weighing 15 pouszds i s mounted on an instrument

rack 01: top of t h e t h i r d stage motor j u s t below the payload separation band.

Four poles of the t u r n s t i l e antenna a r e folded down over t h e t h i r d stage motor

u n t i l the fairing i s jettisoned.

The t r a n s m i t t e r w i l l operate a t a frequency of 108.06 l/lC continuously

f o r two or three days s o t h a t t h e t h i r d stage casing can be tracked. Its

power i s 300 milliwatts. The t h i r d stage i s expected t o remain i n o r b i t

near enough t o t h e i n f l a t e d sphere long enough t o assist i n determining

accurate o r b i t a l data on the sphere.

i W A Headquarters Delta Project Manager i s Vincent L. Johnson.

William Schindler i s t h e Delta technical d i r e c t o r a t t h e Goddard Space

F l i g h t Center. Head of Goddard's F i e l d P r o j e c t s Branch at t h e A t l a n t i c

Elissile Range i s Robert Gray.

Horace Irwin i s t h e Delta project engineer at Douglas A i r c r a f t i n

Santa Monica, Calif. Douglas manager a t AMEl i s B i l l E . S t i t t .

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 No. 3
8/60
PROJECT ECHO

TRACKING

Tracking during the Project Echo experiment is under the over-

a l l d i r e c t i o n of NASA's Goddard Space F l i g h t Center. Tracking services

f o r the NASA experiment w i l l be provided by: B e l l Telephone Laboratories'

s t a t i o n , Cape Canaveral, F l a . ; t h e A i r Force's radar t e s t s i t e i n Trinidad,

B.W.I., operated by t h e Rome (New York) A i r Development Center; t h e NASA-

J e t Propulsion Laboratory's Goldstone s t a t i o n , Camp Irwin, C a l i f . ; Lincoln

Laboratory's Millstone H i l l radar s t a t i o n , Westford, Mass.; NASA's Minitrack

network; and o p t i c a l tracking s t a t i o n s operated f o r NASA by t h e Smithsonian

Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Mass.

BTL's guidance radar a t Canaveral w i l l provide i n i t i a l t r a j e c t o r y

data. During t h e launch phase, Minitrack s t a t i o n s a t F t . Myers, F l a . ,

Antigua, B.W.I., and t h e down-range s t a t i o n at Ascension, U.K., w i l l track

t h e Delta third-stage which c a r r i e s a beacon transmitting on 108.06 mc

with a power output of 60 mw. Trinidad w i l l a l s o t r a c k t h e t h i r d stage.

After payload separation, Trinidad w i l l "skin track" t h e payload by radar

t o observe i n f l a t i o n of t h e 100-foot sphere. Tracking data w i l l be

transmitted t o Goddard's Computing Center f o r a rough determination of t h e

sphere's i n i t i a l o r b i t . These o r b i t a l computations w i l l m e d i a t e l y be

sent out t o t h e other s t a t i o n s taking p a r t i n t h e Echo p r o j e c t .

Goldstone and Millstone w i l l radar and beacon t r a c k t h e sphere when

it comes within contact.

The Minitrack s t a t i o n s w i l l t r a c k t h e beacons c a r r i e d by the sphere,

and t h e instrumented Delta t h i r d stage as long as it transmits. Since t h e

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 - 2 -

third-stage casing w i l l follow c l o s e l y behind the 100-foot s a t e l l i t e during

t h e i n i t i a l o r b i t s , tracking data f r o m t h e s e s t a t i o n s w i l l be u s e f u l i n

determining t h e Echo sphere's o r b i t . Minitrack s t a t i o n s are located at:

Antigua, B.W.I.; Antofagasta, Chile; Blossom Point, Md.; Lima, Peru;

Quito, Equador; Santiago, Chile; Woomera, Australia; Johannesburg, South

Africa; San Diego, Calif .; and F o r t Meyers, F l a .

Optical tracking f i g u r e s importantly i n the experiment. The

Smithsonian operates 12 s t a t i o n s equipped with s a t e l l i t e tracking Baker-

Nunn cameras. These are located a t : Organ Pass, N.M.; Olifantsfontein,

South Africa; Woomera, Australia; San Fernando, Spain; Tokyo, Japan;

Naini T a l , India; Arequipa, Peru; Shiras, Iran; Curacao, N.W.I. ; Jupiter,

Fla.; V i l l a Dolores, Argentina; and Maui, H a w a i i . I n addition, 45

l'Moonwatchll teams around t h e world, composed of amateur o p t i c a l t r a c k e r s

reporting t o t h e Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, w i l l assist i n

tracking.

Data from all tracking s t a t i o n s w i l l be transmitted t o Goddard

where t h e sphere's o r b i t w i l l be continually re-evaluated. Goddard's

Computing Center w i l l send current o r b i t a l data t o a l l s t a t i o n s taking

part i n the project.

A nuniber of independent groups a r e expected t o t r a c k the sphere

i n connection with t h e i r own communications experiments. The Goddard

Space F l i g h t Center w i l l provide these independent experimenters o r b i t a l

information as soon as it i s accurately determined.

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