GLOBALSTAR-A, GLOBALSTAR-B, GLOBALSTAR-C, and GLOBALSTAR-D are the latest four American Globalstar communications satellites in the Globalstar fleet that were launched by a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from Baikonur at 20:31 UT on 2007 May 29. They are also known as GLOBALSTAR M065, GLOBALSTAR M069, GLOBALSTAR M071, and GLOBALSTAR M072, respectively. These second-generation craft each have a dry mass of 350 kg like the older 52 craft in the fleet, providing two-way transmission of voice and data from mobile and fixed stations.
The initial orbital parameters were period 103.5 min, apogee 923 km, perigee 905 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: 2007-05-29
Launch Vehicle: Soyuz-Fregat
Launch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), Kazakhstan
Mass: 350.0 kg