 EURECA deployment in 1992 | |
| Mission type | Materials science Astronomy |
|---|---|
| Operator | ESA |
| COSPAR ID | 1992-049B |
| SATCAT no. | 22065 |
| Mission duration | Planned: 1 year Elapsed: 334 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | MBB-ERNO |
| Launch mass | 4,491 kilograms (9,901 lb) |
| Power | 1,000 watts |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 31 July 1992, 11:56:48 UTC |
| Rocket | Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-46 |
| Launch site | Kennedy LC-39B |
| Deployment date | 2 August 1992 |
| End of mission | |
| Disposal | Recovered |
| Recovered by | Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-57 |
| Recovery date | 1 July 1993 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Eccentricity | 0.00066 |
| Perigee altitude | 438 kilometres (272 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 447 kilometres (278 mi) |
| Inclination | 28.5 degrees |
| Period | 93.4 minutes |
| Epoch | 2 August 1992, 20:00:00 UTC[1] |
The European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) was an uncrewed 4.5-tonne satellite with 15 experiments.[2] It was a European Space Agency (ESA) mission and the acronym was derived from Archimedes' bathtub revelation "Eureka!".
It was built by the German MBB-ERNO and had automatic material science cells as well as small telescopes for solar observation (including x-ray).
It was launched 31 July 1992 by Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-46, and placed into an orbit at an altitude of 508 km (316 mi). EURECA was retrieved on 1 July 1993 by Space Shuttle Endeavour during STS-57 and returned to Earth. It was designed to fly five times with different experiments but the following flights were cancelled.
EURECA is one of the few uncrewed space vehicles that have been returned to the Earth unharmed. It has been on display at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne since 2000.[3]
- ^ "NASA – NSSDCA – Spacecraft – Trajectory Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 2019-07-26. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2011-04-12.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "From Space to Lucerne". Eureca – a satellite on the road (again)!. Archived from the original on 19 May 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2017 – via YouTube.