Please make a donation to support Gunter's Space Page.
Thank you very much for visiting Gunter's Space Page. I hope that this site is useful and informative for you.
If you appreciate the information provided on this site, please consider supporting my work by making a simple and secure donation via PayPal. Please help to run the website and keep everything free of charge. Thank you very much.

ISIS 1, 2

ISIS 1 [CSA]

ISIS 1 (International Satellite for Ionosphere Studies) was an ionospheric observatory instrumented with sweep- and fixed-frequency ionosondes, a VLF receiver, energetic and soft particle detectors, an ion mass spectrometer, an electrostatic probe, an electrostatic analyzer, a beacon transmitter, and a cosmic noise experiment. The sounder used two dipole antennas (73 and 18.7 m long). The satellite was spin-stabilized at about 2.9 rpm after antenna deployment. Some control was exercised over the spin rate and attitude by using magnetically induced torques to change the spin rate and to precess the spin axis. A tape recorder with 1-h capacity was included on the satellite. The satellite could be programmed to take recorded observations for four different time periods for each full recording period. The recorder data were dumped only at Ottawa. For non-tape-recorded observations, data for the satellite and subsatellite regions could be acquired and telemetered when the spacecraft was in the line of sight of telemetry stations. The selected telemetry stations were in areas that provided primary data coverage near the 80-deg-W meridian and in areas near Hawaii, Singapore, Australia, the UK, Norway, India, Japan, Antarctica, New Zealand, and Central Africa. NASA support of the ISIS project was terminated on 1 October 1979. A significant amount of experimental data, however, was acquired after this date by the Canadian project team. ISIS 1 operations were terminated in Canada on 9 March 1984. The Radio Research Laboratories (Tokyo, Japan) then requested and received permission to reactivate ISIS 1. Regular ISIS 1 operations were started from Kashima, Japan, in early August 1984. ISIS 1 was deactivated effective January 24, 1990.

ISIS 2 was an ionospheric observatory instrumented with a sweep- and a fixed-frequency ionosonde, a VLF receiver, energetic and soft particle detectors, an ion mass spectrometer, an electrostatic probe, a retarding potential analyzer, a beacon transmitter, a cosmic noise experiment, and two photometers. Two long crossed-dipole antennas (73 and 18.7 m) were used for the sounding, VLF, and cosmic noise experiments. The spacecraft was spin-stabilized to about 2 rpm after antenna deployment. There were two basic orientation modes for the spacecraft, cartwheel and orbit-aligned. The spacecraft operated approximately the same length of time in each mode, remaining in one mode typically 3 to 5 months. The cartwheel mode with the axis perpendicular to the orbit plane was made available to provide ram and wake data for some experiments for each spin period, rather than for each orbit period. Attitude and spin information was obtained from a three-axis magnetometer and a sun sensor. Control of attitude and spin was possible by means of magnetic torquing. The experiment package also included a programmable tape recorder with a 1-h capacity. For nonrecorded observations, data from satellite and subsatellite regions were telemetered when the spacecraft was in the line of sight of a telemetry station. Telemetry stations were located so that primary data coverage was near the 80-deg-W meridian and near Hawaii, Singapore, Australia, England, France, Norway, India, Japan, Antarctica, New Zealand, and Central Africa. NASA support of the ISIS project was terminated on 1 October 1979. A significant amount of experimental data, however, was acquired after this date by the Canadian project team. ISIS 2 operations were terminated in Canada on 9 March 1984. The Radio Research Laboratories (Tokyo, Japan) then requested and received permission to reactivate ISIS 2. Regular ISIS 2 operations were started from Kashima, Japan, in early August 1984. ISIS 2 was deactivated effective 24, 1990.

Nation: Canada
Type / Application: Science
Operator: CSA
Contractors: CA Victor Co., Montreal
Equipment:
Configuration:
Propulsion:
Power: Solar cells, batteries
Lifetime:
Mass: 241 kg (#1); 264 kg (#2)
Orbit: 575 km × 3525 km, 88.41° (#1); 1356 km × 1428 km, 88.15° (#2)
Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
ISIS 1 (A) 1969-009A 30.01.1969 Va SLC-2E Delta-E1
ISIS 2 (B) 1971-024A 01.04.1971 Va SLC-2E Delta-E1
ISIS C - cancelled

References:

Cite this page: