ATS-6 Satellite-to-Satellite Tracking and Data Relay Experiments

Thr first radio tracking of one artificial satellite via another began on April 16, 1975. At that time the NASA Applications Technology Satellite6 (ATS-6) geostationary satellite began to relay both tracking and telemetry data from the near-Earth geodynamics satellite, Geos-3. This historic first was followed by the ATS-6 relay of data from the NASA weather satellite, Nimbus-6 launched on June 12, 1975. This paper presents the various experiment configurations, equipment descriptions, and results achieved to date with these satellite-to-satellite tracking and data relay experiments.