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Surcal 1

Surcal 1

Surcal (surveillance Calibration) satellites to calibrate the Naval Space Surveillance (NavSpaSur) system. They were produced in cooperation with the NRL group who had designed and developed the NavSpaSur system.

NAVSPASUR was the successor to NRL's innovative Vanguard tracking system, the Minitrack. Launched between 1962 and 1965, the SURCALs were built in different shapes and sizes. Surcal-1 was a payload, which remained intentionally fixed to the Able-Star upper stage of the launch vehicle. The follow-on Surcal satellites were designed as free-flyers.

Nation: USA
Type / Application: Calibration
Operator:
Contractors:
Equipment:
Configuration: Instruments attached to Able-Star stage
Propulsion: ?
Power: Batteries
Lifetime:
Mass:
Orbit:
Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
Surcal 1 1962-F02 24.01.1962 CC LC-17B F Thor-DM21 Able-Star with Injun 2, SECOR (1), LOFTI 2, Grab (3a) (Solrad 4A)

References:

Further Surcal missions:

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