Falcon Gold

USA

Launch data:

Designation:	25020 / 97065B
Launch date	25 Oct 1997
Launch site	CC, LC-36A
Launch vehicle	Atlas-2A (AC-131 #111 + IABS)
Mission	Scientific
Perigee/Apogee	222/35263 km
Inclination	26.4°
Period	621 min

Cadets and Faculty of the United States Air Force Academy, in cooperation with University of Colorado-Colorado Springs have designed this satellite. It was attached to the upper stage.

This mission, named Falcon Gold, will be responsible for sampling the Global Positioning System (GPS) signal from behind the GPS constellation and downlinking spectrum samples to ground stations for post processing.

End of life

Out of service	09 Nov 1997
Cause	batteries dead (normal termination)
Decay

Estimated lifetime: 3 weeks
Downlink: 400.475 MHz

Ref: #15 - update: 27.11.10