ARD
Spacecraft · France
Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.
Credit: Manufacturer Image
French re-entry vehicle technology satellite. The ARD was an 80 percent scale model of the Apollo Command Module, and a technology test for a possible International Space Station Crew Rescue Vehicle. Reentry test satellite built by Aerospatiale for ESA, Europe. Launched 1998.
Equipment included a TDRS satellite communications system; a GPS navigation system; 7 DASA 40 kgf hydrazine attitude control thrusters; a 2.8 m diameter heat shield; three 23 meter diameter parachutes, and a SARSAT recovery beacon. The ARD separated from the Ariane EPS upper stage at 12 minutes 2 seconds after launch. ARD and the EPC stage maneuvered into a 1 km x 830 km orbit, guaranteeing re-entry at the end of the first orbit. The spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific at 3.69 degrees N, 153.35 degrees W, and was successfully recovered by the French Navy.
More at: ARD.
Related
- Country
- France
- Spacecraft
- ISS
- Launch Sites
- Kourou, Kourou ELA3
Chronology
1 event
1998 October 21
16:37 GMT - . Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Complex: Kourou ELA3. LV Family: Ariane 5. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 5G.- ARD - .
Payload: Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator. Nation: France.
Agency: Arianespace.
Program: ISS.
Class: Technology.
Type: Navigation technology satellite. Spacecraft: ARD.
COSPAR: 1998-059S.
The ARD was an 80 percent scale model of the Apollo Command Module, and a technology test for a possible International Space Station Crew Rescue Vehicle. Equipment included a TDRS satellite communications system; a GPS navigation system; 7 DASA 40 kgf hydrazine attitude control thrusters; a 2.8 m diameter heat shield; three 23 metre diameter parachutes, and a SARSAT recovery beacon. The ARD separated from the Ariane EPS upper stage at 12 minutes 2 seconds after launch. ARD and the EPC stage manoeuvred into a 1 km x 830 km orbit, guaranteeing re-entry at the end of the first orbit. The spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific at 3.69 degrees N, 153.35 degrees W, and was successfully recovered by the French Navy.