Able-3 Payload Design

This paper discusses the Able-3 payload instrumentation. The design parameters and functional characteristics of this instrumentation are discussed in terms of the two goals of this program: to build a payload which gathers as much scientific information as possible concerning the space environment about the earth, and to develop and check out communications, power supply, and temperature control systems suitable for subsequent interplanetary space probes. The basic electronics of the satellite and their relationship with the experimental equipment as well as with structural and other aspects of the satellite are discussed in some detail. Particular emphasis is placed on the communications system, and, in particular, on the new digital telemetry system and its value to deep space exploration.