san marco press kit

8/7/2019 San Marco Press Kit

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- - 'NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AN D SPACE ADMINISTRATION TELS WO 2-41W A WASHINGTON, DC 20546 W(T-h925

FOR RELEASE: MONDAY AM'sDecember Y,19u4RELEASE NO: 64-301

ITALIAN SAN MARCOSATELLITE LAUNCHSET FROM WALLOPS

The Italian Commission for Space Research and theNational Aeronautics, and Space Administration soon willplace in orbit the first San Marco satellite designed and


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The 254-pound San Marco satellite will be launched inan easterly direction from Wallops Island. Inclination tothe equator will be 37.7 degrees. Its orbit is expected tohave a perigee (low point) of approximately 135 statute miles(214 kilometers) and an apogee (high point) of about 420statute miles (677 kilometers).

OBJECTIVES

Objectives of the mission are (1) to serve as a trainingexercise for the Italian launch crew in preparation for a


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-3-When the orbiting light outer shell encounters the thin

upper atmosphere, it is retarded by this drag to a slightdegree. The heavy inner core, however, continues travelingunaffected except for the force transmitted by the flexibleconnections. The result is that the distances between theouter shell and the "floating" inner core change.

Equivalent position changes take place in three flexi-


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-4-The project was conceived by Professor Luigi Brogllo,

Chairman of the Italian Commission for Space Research andProject General Director of the San Marco Project. The Payload wasdeveloped by Professor Broglio and his group at the AerospaceResearch Center in Rome.

TERMS OF AGREEMENT

The San Marco Project, involving the first satellitewholly designed and built in Western Europe, stems from anagreement signed by representatives of Italy and the United


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-5-as are peculiar to project San Marco and wnich are notavailable frow NASA.

No exchange of funds between the two countries is in-volved. Scientific cata resulting from the program will bemade available to the world community of scientists.

The project is desined tc cIminate in the launching ofa satellite into an equatorial orbit by the Ttalians. Thislaunch, again using a NASA Scout launch vehicle, is to takeplace from a towable platform (similar to a Texas tower) lo-


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-6 -RESPONSIBILITIES

The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has assisted intesting of the payload and in training Italian personnelpending completion of test facilities in Italy and will assistin worldwide tracking and data acquisition. NASA's LangleyRezearch Center is responsible for technical direction of theNASA portion of the program, including training by the ScoutProject Office on the Scout launch vehicle. NASA's WallopsStation is responsible for the training of range support and


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-7-SCOUT LAUNCH VEHICLE

Scout is a multi-stage launch vehicle using four solidpropellant rocket motors capable of carrying payloads ofvarying sizes on orbital, space probe or reentry missions.Scout is 72 feet long and weighs 20 tons at liftoff.

Scout was developed by NASA's Langley Research Center,Hampton, Va. It is manufactured by Ling-Temco-Vought, Inc.,Dallas.

The four motors are interlocked with transition sectionswhich contain guidance, control, ignition, instrumentation


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Fourth Stage: Altair II (ABL X-258) - 5,800 pounds thrust,burning time 24 seconds.

BACKGROUIND4

The San Marco project is part of NASA's internationalprog2ram, which has among its object~ves:

1. To provide the opportunity for scientists of othernations to participate in and contribute to man's understandingand use of his spatial environment;

2. To support the operating requirements of the NASA


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Scientific information obtained from the project is shared byboth parties and the results are made available to the worldscientific community.

To date, NASA has agreements to launch cooperative sato-llites with the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, France andthe European Space Research Organization (ESRO) composed ofnine Western European nations.

In the cases of the Ariel I (launched April 1962) andAriel II (March 1964) the United Kingdom's contribution


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-10-"or. the site, and, aL"ter receivinr N4ASA training, an Italiancrew will launch the satellites.

The planned Italian San Marco Range will be a complexfacility, including two mobile sea-going platforms especiallyequ:pped with launchers, control and guidance equipment, r-adarand range safety devices, aLr conditioned workling shelterand test rooms, Command and trc-king stations, etc.

One of the two platforms is used mainly as a launchrnf;pad and the other as the control and operations center. They


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Proiessor Carlo Buongiorono, Assistant Project GeneralDirector.

Dr. Giorgio RavellL, Sari Marco Project Payload Manager.Instrumentation Engineers:

Dr. Ugo Ponz, Balance FxperimentsDr. Carlo AArduirni, Therman Control SystemDr. G. Barresi, Payload TelemetryDr. G. Pellegrineschi, Payload RF SystemDr. V. Mazzaglio, Space Simulator TestsProfessor P. F. Checcacci, Ionospheric ExperimentsG. Tarabra, Payload Structure


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