Thor Delta

In-active

McDonnell Douglas (MDC)

May 13, 1960

Description

American orbital launch vehicle. Commercial name for the military's Thor-Delta.

Specifications
  • Stages
    3
  • Length
    31.0 m
  • Diameter
    2.44 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    2.44 m
  • Launch Mass
    54 T
  • Thrust
    667 kN
Family
  • Name
    Thor Delta
  • Family
  • Variant
    Delta
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Thor Delta
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $7270000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    226 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

McDonnell Douglas

Commercial
None
MDC

None

Thor Delta | Tiros 6

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
Sept. 18, 1962, 8:53 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

NASA's TIROS (Television & Infra-Red Observation Satellite) program was the first experimental weathersatellite program.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Thor Delta | Telstar 1

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
July 10, 1962, 8:35 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Communications satellite

Medium Earth Orbit
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Thor Delta | Tiros 5

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
June 19, 1962, 12:19 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

NASA's TIROS (Television & Infra-Red Observation Satellite) program was the first experimental weathersatellite program.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Thor Delta | Ariel 1

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
April 26, 1962, 6 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Ariel is a series of British research satellites. Ariel 1 was designed to study solar radiation and its impact on Earth's ionosphere.

Low Earth Orbit
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Thor Delta | OSO 1

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
March 7, 1962, 4:06 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

OSO (Orbital Solar Observatory) satellite. Its purpose was to return data on the ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma ray emissions of the sun and galaxy.

Low Earth Orbit
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Thor Delta | Tiros 4

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
Feb. 8, 1962, 12:43 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

NASA's TIROS (Television & Infra-Red Observation Satellite) program was the first experimental weather satellite program.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Thor Delta | Tiros 2

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
Nov. 23, 1960, 11:13 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

A spin stabilized meteorological satellite. The second in a series of Television Infrared Observation Satellites.

Low Earth Orbit
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Thor Delta | Echo 1

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
Aug. 12, 1960, 9:39 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

The Echo 1A spacecraft was a 30.48 m diameter balloon of mylar polyester film 0.0127 mm thick. The spacecraft was designed as a passive communications reflector for transcontinental and intercontinental telephone (voice), radio, and television signals. It had 107.9 MHz beacon transmitters for telemetry purposes. These transmitters were powered by five nickel-cadmium batteries that were charged by 70 solar cells mounted on the balloon. Because of the large area-to-mass ratio of the spacecraft, data for the calculation of atmospheric density and solar pressure could be acquired. The spacecraft was also used to evaluate the technical feasibility of satellite triangulation during the latter portion of its life. Echo 1 failed during the coast period after launch, as the attitude control jets on the second stage failed and the spacecraft did not achieve orbit. Echo 1A was a successful relaunch.

Elliptical Orbit
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Thor Delta | Echo

McDonnell Douglas | United States of America
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
May 13, 1960, 9:16 a.m.
Status: Launch Failure
Mission:

The Echo 1 spacecraft was a 30.48 m diameter balloon of mylar polyester film 0.0127 mm thick. The spacecraft was designed as a passive communications reflector for transcontinental and intercontinental telephone (voice), radio, and television signals. It had 107.9 MHz beacon transmitters for telemetry purposes. These transmitters were powered by five nickel-cadmium batteries that were charged by 70 solar cells mounted on the balloon. Because of the large area-to-mass ratio of the spacecraft, data for the calculation of atmospheric density and solar pressure could be acquired. The spacecraft was also used to evaluate the technical feasibility of satellite triangulation during the latter portion of its life. Echo 1 failed during the coast period after launch, as the attitude control jets on the second stage failed and the spacecraft did not achieve orbit. Echo 1A was a successful relaunch.

Elliptical Orbit
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Long March 6A
Success
1 day, 4 hours ago
Tianhui 5 Group 02
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

A pair of satellites officially described as for cartographic surveying purposes, details TBD.


Firefly Alpha
Success
1 day, 23 hours ago
FLTA005 (Noise of Summer)
Space Launch Complex 2W - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Fifth flight of the Firefly Alpha small sat launcher, carrying eight cubesats for NASA's ELaNa 43 (Educational Launch of a Nanosatellite) mission.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 18 hours ago
Starlink Group 8-9
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of 20 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


H3-22
Success
5 days ago
Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4)
Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-2 - Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

The Advanced Land Observing Satellite-4 (ALOS-4) is a Japanese satellite designed to observe the Earth's surface using a phased array type L-band syn…


Long March 7A
Success
6 days, 15 hours ago
ChinaSat 3A
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Chinese communication geostationary satellite for unknown purposes.