TDRS 9 (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite 9) is an American geosynchronous communications satellite that was launched by an Atlas 2A rocket from Cape Canaveral AFB at 22:59 UT on 2002 March 8. It is primarily intended to capture data streams from low-earth satellites and relay them to ground, and vice versa.
With a mass of 1,781 kg, power of 2.3 kW, a pair of steerable, transponding antennas of diameter 5 m, and pair of solar arrays of length 21 m, TDRS 9 can simultaneously transmit and receive in S-band and in either Ku- or Ka-band. Reception rates are 300 Mb/s in the Ku- and Ka-bands, and at 800 Mb/s in the S-band. The transponder rates are 25 Mb/s in the Ka- and Ku-bands, and at 300 kb/s in the S-band. The S-band phased-array antenna can receive signals from five spacecraft while transmitting to one. These capabilities are common to all three of the second-generation TDRSs 8, 9 and 10. The primary ground terminals for data reception are the White Sands Complex (WSC) and the Guam Remote Ground Terminal (GRGT). Efforts continue to move TDRS 9 to a geosynchronous orbit from the current transfer orbit with period 697 min, apogee 35,805 km, perigee 3,523 km, and inclination 21.4 deg.
Alternate Names
Tracking and Data Relay Satellite 9
Facts in Brief
Launch Date: 2002-03-08
Launch Vehicle: Atlas 2A
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral, United States