DODGE

{{short description|Satellite}}

{{ref improve|date=January 2012}}

{{About|the satellite|other uses|Dodge (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox spaceflight

| name = DODGE

| image = Dodge satellite.jpg

| image_caption = The DODGE satellite

| mission_type = Technology

| operator = NASA{{\}}USAF

| COSPAR_ID = 1967-066F

| SATCAT = 2867

| mission_duration = 3 years

| spacecraft_bus =

| manufacturer = Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory

| dry_mass =

| launch_mass = {{convert|430|lb|kg|disp=flip}}

| dimensions = {{convert|7.9|by|4.0|ft|m|disp=flip}}

| power =

| launch_date = {{start-date|July 1, 1967, 13:15:01|timezone=yes}} UTC

| launch_rocket = Titan IIIC

| launch_site = Cape Canaveral LC-41

| launch_contractor =

| last_contact =

| disposal_type =

| deactivated =

| orbit_epoch =

| orbit_reference = Geocentric

| orbit_regime = MEO

| orbit_semimajor = {{convert|39841.6|km|mi}}

| orbit_periapsis = {{convert|33278.8|km|mi}}

| orbit_apoapsis = {{convert|33662.5|km|mi}}

| orbit_inclination = 11.7 degrees

| orbit_period =

| apsis = gee

}}

DODGE (Department of Defense Gravity Experiment) was a satellite whose primary purpose was to conduct experiments in gravity-gradient stabilization at near-geosynchronous altitudes. Its secondary objectives included measuring the Earth's magnetic field, and taking pictures of the entire Earth's disk in both black-and-white and color. It was launched atop a Titan IIIC rocket on July 1, 1967, and operated for over three years. DODGE carried ten knobbed booms oriented along three different axes, that could be independently extended and retracted by ground command.[http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/dodge.htm Gunter's Space Page: DODGE]

DODGE first achieved successful stabilization 12 days after launch. It took in 1967 color-filtered black-and-white images, which put together produced the very first color image of the full-disk Earth (ATS-3 often also cited, produced the first non-black-and-white filtered "true-color" image).{{cite journal | last1=Miller | first1=Steven D. | last2=Schmit | first2=Timothy L. | last3=Seaman | first3=Curtis J. | last4=Lindsey | first4=Daniel T. | last5=Gunshor | first5=Mathew M. | last6=Kohrs | first6=Richard A. | last7=Sumida | first7=Yasuhiko | last8=Hillger | first8=Donald | title=A Sight for Sore Eyes: The Return of True Color to Geostationary Satellites | journal=Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society | publisher=American Meteorological Society | volume=97 | issue=10 | date=Oct 1, 2016 | issn=0003-0007 | doi=10.1175/bams-d-15-00154.1 | pages=1803–1816| bibcode=2016BAMS...97.1803M | doi-access=free }}

File:First color image of the earth from outer space (Dodge Satellite).png

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