Applications Technology Satellites

The Applications Technology Satellites (ATS) were a series of experimental satellites launched by NASA, under the supervision of, among others, Wernher von Braun. The program was launched in 1966 to test the feasibility of placing a satellite into geosynchronous orbit.^[1] The satellites were primarily designed to act as communication satellites, but also carried equipment related to meteorology and navigation. ATS-6 was the world's first educational satellite as well as world's first experimental Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) as part of the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) between NASA and ISRO.^[2]

Applications Technology Satellite 3

Summary of Missions

Mission	Launch Date	Duration	Major investigations	Notable mission highlights
ATS-1	December 7, 1966	18 years	Spin stabilization, investigated the geostationary environment, space communications	First full-Earth cloud cover images[3]
ATS-2	April 6, 1967	6 months	None	Launch vehicle failure caused spacecraft to reach undesirable orbit. Limited data was obtained.[4]
ATS-3	November 5, 1967	At least 20 years	Spin stabilization, communications tests	First color images from space.[5] ATS-3 was also used as a communications satellite, providing links to Antarctica and the Pacific Basin
ATS-4	August 10, 1968	2 months in low orbit, failed to reach geostationary orbit, full mission did not occur	Intended (failed) objective of inserting a gravity-gradient-stabilized spacecraft into a geosynchronous orbit	Intended for geostationary orbit. Launch vehicle failure left it in a near useless LEO orbit.[6] Little data was obtained.[7]
ATS-5	August 12, 1969	3 year design life	Communications tests, intended (failed) testing of an ion engine	Spacecraft entered an unintended spin and encountered excessive acceleration. This caused damage to the ion engine.[8]
ATS-6	May 30, 1974	5 years	Tested several communications technologies, satellite assisted search and rescue, and broadcast television.[9]	First satellite to broadcast educational content.[10]

See also

• Spaceflight portal

• Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
• Synchronous Meteorological Satellite