DODGE

DODGE (Department of Defense Gravity Experiment) was a satellite whose primary purpose was to conduct experiments in gravity-gradient stabilization at near-geosynchronous altitudes. Its secondary objectives included measuring the Earth's magnetic field, and taking pictures of the entire Earth's disk in both black-and-white and color. It was launched atop a Titan IIIC rocket on July 1, 1967, and operated for over three years. DODGE carried ten knobbed booms oriented along three different axes, that could be independently extended and retracted by ground command.^[1]

This article is about the satellite. For other uses, see Dodge (disambiguation).

DODGE

The DODGE satellite
Mission type	Technology
Operator	NASA / USAF
COSPAR ID	1967-066F
SATCAT no.	2867
Mission duration	3 years
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Launch mass	200 kilograms (430 lb)
Dimensions	2.4 by 1.2 metres (7.9 by 4.0 ft)
Start of mission
Launch date	July 1, 1967, 13:15:01 (1967-07-01UTC13:15:01Z) UTC
Rocket	Titan IIIC
Launch site	Cape Canaveral LC-41
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	MEO
Semi-major axis	39,841.6 kilometres (24,756.4 mi)
Perigee altitude	33,278.8 kilometres (20,678.5 mi)
Apogee altitude	33,662.5 kilometres (20,916.9 mi)
Inclination	11.7 degrees

DODGE first achieved successful stabilization 12 days after launch.^[1] It took in 1967 color-filtered black-and-white images, which put together produced the very first color image of the full-disk Earth (ATS-3 often also cited, produced the first non-black-and-white filtered "true-color" image).^[2]

The first color image of the entire Earth, taken by the DODGE satellite in August, 1967

See also

• ATS-3, another satellite also to take one of the first full-disk color pictures of the Earth
• First images of Earth from space