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USA 94

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Mission type
  
Navigation

COSPAR ID
  
1993-054A

Spacecraft type
  
GPS Block IIA

Operator
  
US Air Force

SATCAT no.
  
22779

Mission duration
  
7.5 years (planned) 19.6 years (achieved)

USA-94, also known as GPS IIA-13, GPS II-22 and GPS SVN-35, was an American navigation satellite which formed part of the Global Positioning System. It was the thirteenth of nineteen Block IIA GPS satellites to be launched.

USA-94 was launched at 12:38:00 UTC on 30 August 1993, atop a Delta II carrier rocket, flight number D222, flying in the 7925-9.5 configuration. The launch took place from Launch Complex 17B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and placed USA-94 into a transfer orbit. The satellite raised itself into medium Earth orbit using a Star-37XFP apogee motor.

On 1 October 1993, USA-94 was in an orbit with a perigee of 20,109 kilometres (12,495 mi), an apogee of 20,257 kilometres (12,587 mi), a period of 718 minutes, and 54.8 degrees of inclination to the equator. It broadcast the PRN 30 signal, and operated in slot 4, and later 5, of plane B of the GPS constellation. The satellite had a mass of 1,816 kilograms (4,004 lb) and a design life of 7.5 years. It was initially decommissioned on 26 March 2009 and then kept as a residual satellite. SVN 35 was then recalled to replace SVN 30 in the active constellation on 16 August 2011.

It was then decommissioned again on 1 May 2013, after almost 20 years in orbit, and finally placed in a disposal orbit approximately 1000 km above the operational constellation and deactivated on 10 June 2016.

References

USA-94 Wikipedia


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