Payload Assist Module

PAM-D with the Phoenix spacecraft. The stage is successively spun, fired, yo-yo de-spun and jettisoned.

The Payload Assist Module (PAM) is a modular upper stage designed and built by McDonnell Douglas (Boeing), using Thiokol Star-series solid propellant rocket motors. The PAM was used with the Space Shuttle, Delta, and Titan launchers and carried satellites from low Earth orbit to a geostationary transfer orbit or an interplanetary course. The payload was spin stabilized by being mounted on a rotating plate.[1] Originally developed for the Space Shuttle, different versions of the PAM were developed:

  • PAM-A (Atlas class), development terminated; originally to be used on both the Atlas and Space Shuttle, designed for satellites up to 4,400 lb (2,000 kg)
  • PAM-D (Delta class), uses a Star-48B rocket motor, designed for satellites up to 2,750 lb (1,250 kg)[2]
  • PAM-DII (Delta class), uses a Star-63 rocket motor, designed for satellites up to 4,150 lb (1,880 kg)[2]
  • PAM-S (Special), uses a Star-48B as a kick motor for the space probe Ulysses[2]

The PAM-D module was used as an optional third stage of the classic Delta rocket. The PAM-D was discontinued after the Challenger accident. A simplified 3rd stage using the STAR-48 motor was employed on Delta II.

2001 re-entry incident

On January 12, 2001, a PAM-D module re-entered the atmosphere after a "catastrophic orbital decay".[3] The PAM-D stage, which had been used to launch the GPS satellite 2A-11 in 1993, crashed in the sparsely populated Saudi Arabian desert, where it was positively identified.[3]

  • PAM-D stage in assembly
    PAM-D stage in assembly
  • SBS-3 satellite with PAM-D stage being launched from Space Shuttle Columbia
    SBS-3 satellite with PAM-D stage being launched from Space Shuttle Columbia
  • Saudi officials inspect a PAM-D module that re-entered the atmosphere in 2001
    Saudi officials inspect a PAM-D module that re-entered the atmosphere in 2001
  • SATCOM KU-2 attached to a PAM-DII is being released from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis during STS-61B
    SATCOM KU-2 attached to a PAM-DII is being released from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis during STS-61B
  • Ulysses is mated with the PAM-S
    Ulysses is mated with the PAM-S

References

  1. ^ "Payload Assist Module (PAM)". Global Security. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c Krebs, Gunter D. "PAM-D, PAM-D2, PAM-S". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  3. ^ a b "PAM-D Debris Falls in Saudi Arabia" (PDF). The Orbital Debris Quarterly News. 6 (2). NASA Johnson Space Center: 1. April 2001.
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