Beacon Explorer-C was launched from Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island Virgina, in 1965. The satellite was magnetically stabilized, had large solar panels, and carried a ring of laser retro-reflectors. BE-C also carried a TRANET/Doppler tracking beacon. Because of its low inclination, BE-C became a target for the early North American crustal motion studies. BE-C was at times visible to laser sites located in the United States on three to four successive revolutions. However, given the satellite's magnetic stabilization algorithm and the location of the corner cubes at its lowest end, BE-C was not visible to lasers located in the mid to far southern latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere.
EGM96 included SLR data from 1979 through 1982, and TRANET Doppler data from 1965.
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