This page no longer updated from 31 October 2001. Latest version can be found at www.astronautix.com
Class: ELINT. Nation: USA. Agency: U.S. Air Force. Geosynchronous orbit signals intelligence satellite series that replaced Canyon. Also called Program 366 and Vortex.
SpecificationTotal Mass: 932 kg.
Chalet Chronology
10 June 1978
Chalet 1 Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Titan 3C. Mass: 820 kg. Perigee: 29,929 km. Apogee: 42,039 km. Inclination: 12.0 deg. First launch of the heavier, mored advanced CHALET ELINT satellites. (the project was renamed VORTEX when the code name CHALET appeared in the New York Times).
01 October 1979
Chalet 2 Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Titan 3C. Mass: 820 kg. Perigee: 30,443 km. Apogee: 41,497 km. Inclination: 7.5 deg. Chalet ELINT satellite.
31 October 1981
Chalet 3 Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Titan 3C. Mass: 820 kg. Perigee: 134 km. Apogee: 382 km. Inclination: 29.3 deg. Chalet ELINT satellite.
31 January 1984
Chalet 4 Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Titan 34D. Mass: 1,043 kg. Perigee: 146 km. Apogee: 1,023 km. Inclination: 29.4 deg. Chalet ELINT satellite.
02 September 1988
USA 31 Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Titan 34D. FAILURE: Broken Transtage pressurization feed lines prevented the geosynchronous orbit apogee burn from taking place. Mass: 1,045 kg. Perigee: 151 km. Apogee: 14,103 km. Inclination: 29.3 deg. Chalet ELINT satellite; upper stage failure left in lower than planned orbit.
10 May 1989
USA 37 Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: Titan 34D. Mass: 1,045 kg. Perigee: 455 km. Apogee: 40,073 km. Inclination: 27.5 deg. Chalet ELINT satellite.
Bibliography:- 2 - McDowell, Jonathan, The United Nations Registry of Space Objects, Harvard University, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/QEDT/jcm/space/un/un.html
- 6 - JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. HTML when accessed: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html
- 279 - McDowell, Jonathan, Launch Log, October 1998. HTML when accessed: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/log/launch.html
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Last update 12 March 2001.
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© Mark Wade, 2001 .