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- Spacecraft Brief Description The GEOS 2 (Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite) was a gravity-gradient-stabilized, solar-cell-powered spacecraft that carried electronic and geodetic instrumentation. The geodetic instrumentation systems included (1) four optical beacons, (2) two C-band radar transponders, (3) a passive radar reflector, (4) a sequential collation of range radio range transponder, (5) a Goddard range and range rate transponder, (6) laser reflectors, and (7) Doppler beacons. Non-geodetic systems included a laser detector and a Minitrack interferometer beacon. The objectives of the spacecraft were to optimize optical station visibility periods and to provide complementary data for inclination-dependent terms established by the Explorer 29 (GEOS 1) gravimetric studies. The spacecraft was placed into a retrograde orbit to accomplish these objectives. Operational problems occurred in the main power system, optical beacon flash system, and the spacecraft clock, and adjustments in scheduling resulted in nominal operations. Auxiliary Information Launch Date and Time : 1968-01-11 16:19:00 Epoch Date and Time : 1977-02-28 Orbit Type : Geocentric Apogee(km) : 1570. Perigee(km) : 1082. Inclination : 105.8 Date of last update : 1992-03-09 Group: Platform_Details Entry_ID: GEOS-2 Group: Platform_Identification Platform_Category: Earth Observation Satellites Platform_Series_or_Entity: GEOS (Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite) Short_Name: GEOS-2 Long_Name: Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite-2 End_Group Group: Synonymous_Platform_Names Short_Name: GEOS-2 End_Group Group: Platform_Associated_Instruments Short_Name: RADIO TRANSPONDERS Short_Name: OPTICAL BEACON End_Group Group: Orbit Orbit_Inclination: 105.8 Perigee: 1082 km Apogee: 1570 km End_Group Creation_Date: 2007-09-26 Online_Resource: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1978-071A Group: Platform_Logistics Launch_Date: 1968-01-11 Primary_Sponsor: NASA End_Group End_Group
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