Payload Assist Module
The Payload Assist Module (PAM) designed and built by McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co., Huntington Beach, Calif is a modular upper stage operated with Thiokol Sar series solid propellant engine, used with the Space Shuttle, Delta, and Titan launchers. The rocket was used to carry satellites from a 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 Shuttles, different versions of the PAM followed:
- PAM-A (Atlas class), development terminated
- PAM-D (Delta class), uses a Star-48B rocket motor
- PAM-D2 (Delta class), uses a Star-63 rocket motor
- PAM-S (Special) as a kick motor for the space probe Ulysses
The PAM-D module, used as the third stage of a Delta II rocket, is the only version in use today.
On January 12, 2001, a PAM-D module reentered the atmosphere after a "catastrophic orbital decay".[2] The PAM-D stage, that had been used to launch a GPS satellite in 1993, crashed in the sparsely populated Saudi Arabian desert, where it was positively identified.
External links
- Payload Assist Module at the NASA Shuttle Reference Manual
- Payload Assist Module at GlobalSecurity.org
References
- ^ "Payload Assist Module (PAM)". Global Security. Retrieved June 8, 2012.
- ^ "PAM-D Debris Falls in Saudi Arabia." The Orbital Debris Quarterly News. Vol. 6, Issue 2. NASA Johnson Space Center. Available online.
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