A

David

Darling

GLOMR (Global Low Orbiting Message Relay)

GLOMR

The GLOMR satellites were DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) satellites designed to demonstrate the ability to read out, store, and forward data from remote ground-based sensors. GLOMR was first scheduled for deployment from a modified Get-Away Special container on Space Shuttle mission STS-51B, but failed to eject because of a battery problem. It was reflown and deployed successfully from STS-61A, and reentered after 14 months.

 

GLOMR II, also known as USA 55 and SECS (Special Experimental Communications System), was roughly the size of basketball and had greater data storage, more redundancy, and more space-qualified hardware than its predecessor.

 

spacecraft launch date launch vehicle launch site orbit mass
GLOMR Nov 1, 1985 STS-61 Cape Canaveral 304 × 332 km × 57° 52 kg
GLOMR II Apr 5, 1990 Pegasus Edwards AFB 489 × 668 km × 94.1° 68 kg