Globalstars M057, M059, M056, and M031 were the latest to join the fleet of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites that enable communications among stationary or mobile phones located far away from cellular networks. They were launched by a Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur at 13:32 UT. This brought the total to 44 of the planned fleet of 48 satellites. One more Soyuz launch in November 1999 completed the fleet, and a subsequent Delta 2 launch provided four on-orbit spares.
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: 1999-10-18
Launch Vehicle: Soyuz-U
Launch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), Kazakhstan