Orbcomm FM44

Spacecraft n°:

US spacecraft n°:

Launch data: Designation  38847 / 12054B Launch date  08 Oct 2012 - 00:35 UT Launch site  CC, SLC-40 Launch vehicle  Falcon-9 v1.0 Mission  Communication Earth orbit on Oct 8.16: Perigee / Apogee  171 x 344 km Eccentricity   Inclination  51.63 deg Period  89.56 min

Description:

• OG2 is a prototype generation of satellites operated by Orbcomm. Due to an anomaly on one of the Falcon 9's first stage engines, the rocket did not comply the second burn. For this reason, the OG2 prototype satellite was deployed into an orbit that was lower than intended.

Mission details:

• Orbcomm 2nd generation satellites
• Dragon CRS-1 secondary payload, the first Orbcomm Second Generation communications satellite, was ejected at 0137 UTC into a 203 x 322 km orbit instead of its planned 350 x 750 km insertion orbit.
  Orbcomm will not be able to get to its operational 750 x 750 km orbit but there's a chance they'll get a few months of system tests out of it.
• The first launch ended in a lower than planned orbit, as the second stage of the launch vehicle was not able to ignite for an orbit raising burn after the prime payload was deployed. The Orbcomm OG2-1 satellite reentered at 0619 UTC on Oct 10 after 2 days in space, probably over the NE Pacific west of Vancouver. An Orbcomm press release states that they were able to test out the satellite's systems before the reentry.