Intelsat III F-8 was a communications satellite owned by Intelsat. The satellite had an estimated useful life of 5 years.
| Mission type | Communications |
|---|---|
| Operator | Intelsat |
| COSPAR ID | 1970-055A |
| SATCAT no. | 04478 |
| Mission duration | 5 years (planned) Launch failure |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | TRW |
| Launch mass | 293 kilograms (646 lb) |
| BOL mass | 151 kilograms (333 lb) |
| Power | 183 W |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | July 23, 1970, 00:16:03 UTC[1] |
| Rocket | Delta M |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral LC-17A |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric[2] |
| Regime | Geostationary[2] |
| Eccentricity | 0.24386[2] |
| Perigee altitude | 19,400 kilometers (12,100 mi)[2] |
| Apogee altitude | 36,030 kilometers (22,390 mi)[2] |
| Inclination | 13.3°[2] |
| Period | 1,043.0 minutes[2] |
| Epoch | July 23, 1970[2] |
Intelsat III | |
Design
The last of eight Intelsat III satellites to be launched, Intelsat III F-8 was built by TRW. It was a 293-kilogram (646 lb) spacecraft equipped with two transponders to be powered by body-mounted solar cells generating 183 watts of power.[3] It had a design life of five years and carried an SVM-2 apogee motor for propulsion.[4]
Launch
Intelsat III F-8 was launched on a Delta M rocket, flying from Launch Complex 17A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch took place on July 23, 1970, with the spacecraft bound for a geosynchronous transfer orbit.[1]
The Intelsat III F-8 was lost due to a malfunction during the apogee motor firing. Communications stopped 14.5 seconds into the planned 27 second apogee motor burn.
