GLOMR

American military store-dump communications satellite. Experimental communication satellite built by DSI, Rockwell for DARPA, USAF STP (Space Test Program), USA. Launched 1985. Used GLOMR Bus (62-sided polyhedron, unstabilized, body mounted solar cells).

GLOMR (Global Low Orbiting Message Relay) was a DARPA project designed to demonstrate the ability to read out, store, and forward data from remote ground-based sensors.

The satellite was first scheduled for deployment from STS-51B, but a battery problem forced a return to Earth for repair. Reflown and deployed from STS-61A, the vehicle finally re-entered after 14 months. The total price was less than 1 million dollars. The spacecraft was a small, 62-sided polyhedron, and unstabilized. The design included redundant transmitters, receivers, batteries, and battery charge control systems. It had two CMOS microprocessors - one for communications control, the other for scheduling, mass memory, housekeeping, and mission control, telemetry, and command functions.

The SECS (Special Experimental Communications System) or GLOMR 2 was an improved digital store and forward communications spacecraft for a classified mission. The design was similar to GLOMR with more data storage, greater redundancy, and more space qualified hardware content. SECS was the first spacecraft launched on the air-launched Pegasus launch vehicle. The spacecraft operated for 3.5 years. The spacecraft had a spherical structure, and was unstabilized with body mounted solar cells. The payload was to GLOMR.