Vela 3B

Vela 3B (also known Vela 6, Vela Hotel 6 and OPS 6564[3]) was a U.S. reconnaissance satellite to detect explosions and nuclear tests on land and in space; the first of the third pair of Vela series satellites; taken together with Vela 3A and ERS 17 satellites.

Vela 3B
Vela satellite.
OperatorUSAF
COSPAR ID1965-058B[1]
SATCAT no.1459
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerTRW
Launch mass235 kilograms (518 lb)
Start of mission
Launch dateJuly 20, 1965, 08:27 (1965-07-20UTC08:27Z) UTC
RocketAtlas Agena D 2A
Launch siteCape Canaveral LC-13
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeHighly Elliptical
Semi-major axis117,972 kilometres (73,304 mi)
Perigee altitude5,310.8 kilometres (3,300.0 mi)
Apogee altitude169,892.3 kilometres (105,566.2 mi)
Inclination23.7°
Period6,721 minutes
EpochAugust 4, 2019 (2019-08-04)[2]
 
Launch of Vela 3B.

The secondary task of the ship was space research (X-rays, gamma rays, neutrons, magnetic field and charged particles).

The satellite was rotationally stabilized (2 rps). The ship could work in real time mode (one data frame per second) or in data recording mode (one frame every 256 seconds). The first mode was used for the first 40% of the mission's duration. About 1 transmission was received every 4 hours. The second mode was used until the next pair of Vela satellites were launched.

The ship remains in orbit around Earth.

Instruments

See also

References
  1. NASA GSFC. "Vela 3B". Retrieved August 4, 2019. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. N2yo.com. "OPS 6564 (VELA 6)". Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  3. Antonín Vítek. "1965-058B - Vela 3". Space 40. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
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