GLOBALSTAR M36, M23, M38, and M40 are low-altitude American communications spacecraft that were launched by a Soyuz-U booster from Baikonur, each with a mass of 450 kg. They are four of the planned 48 spacecraft (plus four reserves) fleet eventually enabled voice and data relays from/to telephones far away from cellular networks. The network became customer-ready after the 32 become operational. (Plans were for seven Delta 2 launches of 28 spacecraft.) Initial orbital parameters of all four were similar: period 103.5 min, apogee 952 km, perigee 911 km, and inclination 52 deg.
Globalstar planned 52 satellites (48 operational and 4 on-orbit spares) in Space Systems Loral's "Big LEO" global mobile communications network, offering global real time voice, data and fax. The satellites were 3-axis stabilized, and employed magnetometers on a deployable boom, sun sensors, GPS as attitude sensors, and carried two deployable solar arrays delivering 1100 W. The satellites in the first-generation constellation were designed to operate at full performance for a minimum of 7.5 years.
The satellites in the system were placed into low earth orbit in eight operational planes of six satellites each, with 1,414 kilometer circular orbits inclined at 52 degrees.
Facts in Brief
Launch Date: 1999-02-09
Launch Vehicle: Soyuz-U
Launch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), Kazakhstan
Mass: 450.0 kg
Nominal Power: 1100.0 W