GLOBALSTARs M063, M062, M060, and M064 are the final members of the Globalstar fleet which already had the planned 48 satellites. With the addition of these four, any four members of the 52 member fleet may be held in reserve. The fleet enables relay of data and voice communications from/to mobile or remote telephones located almost anywhere in the world. Initial orbital parameters of all four were similar: period 103.5 min, apogee 930 km, perigee 914 km, and inclination 52 degrees.
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: 2000-02-08
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7420
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral, United States