Harvard designation 1961 Alpha 1 Inclination 97.4° Apogee 553,000 m Launch date 31 January 1961 Mission type Reconnaissance satellite | Mission duration 1 month Period 1.6 hours Perigee 474,000 m Bus RM-81 Agena | |
Rocket Atlas LV-3A Agena-A 70D | ||
Brand samos 2 aug 2010
Samos 2 was an American reconnaissance satellite launched in 1961 as part of the Samos program. It was an early electro-optical reconnaissance spacecraft, meaning that it transmitted images to receiving stations on Earth rather than returning them in a film capsule. Samos 2 was a Samos-E1 spacecraft, based on an Agena-A.
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The launch of Samos 2 occurred at 20:31:19 UTC on January 31, 1961. An Atlas LV-3A Agena-A rocket was used, flying from Launch Complex 1-1 at the Point Arguello Naval Air Station. Ten minutes and fourteen seconds later, the Agena's engine cut off, having successfully achieved a low Earth orbit. It was assigned the Harvard designation 1961 Alpha 1.
Samos 2 operated in a Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit, with an apogee of 553 kilometres (344 mi), a perigee of 474 kilometres (295 mi), an inclination of 97.4 degrees, and a period of 94.9 minutes. The satellite had a mass of 1,915 kilograms (4,222 lb), and measured 6.86 metres (22.5 ft) in length, with a diameter of 1.52 metres (5 ft 0 in). It operated successfully, however the images returned were poor. Designed to operate for around ten days, it ceased operations around a month after launch, and decayed from orbit on October 21, 1973.