Artemis (satellite)

Artemis is a geostationary earth orbit satellite (GEOS) for telecommunications.

Launched by an Ariane 5 rocket, it originally reached an orbit much lower than planned. It was remotely reconfigured to reach its intended station by means of a novel procedure. First, in a series of apogee firings, most of its chemical fuel was used to put it in a higher, circular orbit. Then, its electric-ion motor - originally intended for station keeping, and for firing a few minutes at a time, was instead kept running for most of 18 months, pushing the spacecraft into an outward spiral trajectory. It gained altitude at the rate of about 15km per day, until it reached the intended geostationary orbit. [cite web | url = http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMQEK1A6BD_index_0.html | title = Artemis finally reaches operational orbit | date = January 31, 2003 | publisher = ESA]

References

External links

*http://www.esa.int/artemislaunch/ Artemis news page at European Space Agency.