Information about Explorer 3
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| Organization: | Army Ballistic Missile Agency |
| Major Contractors: | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| Mission Type: | Earth Science |
| Satellite of: | Earth |
| Launch: | March 26, 1958 at 17:31:00 UTC |
| Launch Vehicle: | Jupiter-C |
| Decay: | June 27, 1958 |
| Mission Duration: | 93 days |
| Mass: | 14.1 kg |
| NSSDC ID: | 1958-003A |
| Webpage: | NASA NSSDC Master Catalog |
| Orbital elements | |
|---|---|
| Semimajor Axis: | 7,870.7 km |
| Eccentricity: | .165894 |
| Inclination: | 33.38° |
| Orbital Period: | 115.7 minutes |
| Apogee: | 2,799 km |
| Perigee: | 186 km |
| Orbits: | ~1,160 |
| Instruments | |
| Geiger-Mueller detector : | Detection of cosmic rays |
| Wire grid array : | Micrometeorite detection |
| Acoustic detector : | Micrometeorite detection |
Mission Description
Explorer-III was nearly identical to Explorer I in design and mission.The satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral (now Kennedy Space Center) in Florida at 17:31:00 UTC on March 26, 1958, by the Jupiter-C vehicle.
The Jupiter-C has its origins in the United States Army's Project Orbiter in 1954. The project was canceled in 1955, however, when the decision was made to proceed with Project Vanguard.
Following the launch of the Soviet Sputnik I on October 4, 1957, ABMA was directed to proceed with the launching of a satellite using the Jupiter-C, which had already been flight-tested in nose-cone re-entry tests for the Jupiter IRBM (intermediate-range ballistic missile). Working closely together, ABMA and JPL completed the job of modifying the Jupiter-C and building the Explorer-I in 84 days.
Spacecraft Design
Explorer 3 (1958 Gamma 1) was launched in conjunction with the IGY by the U.S. Army (Ordinance) into an eccentric orbit. The objective of this spacecraft was a continuation of experiments started with Explorer 1. The payload consisted of a cosmic ray counter (a Geiger-Mueller tube), and a micrometeorite detector (erotion gauge). The Explorer 3 spacecraft was spin stabilized and had an on-board tape recorder to provide a complete radiation history for each orbit. It was discovered soon after launch that the satellite was in a tumbling motion with a period of about 7 s. Explorer 3 decayed from orbit on June 27, 1958, after 93 days of operation.Mission results
The discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt by the Explorer satellites was considered to be one of the outstanding discoveries of the International Geophysical Year.Explorer-III was placed in an orbit with a perigee of 186 kilometers and an apogee of 2799 kilometers having a period of 115.7. Its total weight was 14.1 kilograms, of which 8.4 kilograms were instrumentation. The instrument section at the front end of the satellite and the empty scaled-down fourth-stage rocket casing orbited as a single unit, spinning around its long axis at 750 revolutions per minute.
Instrumentation consisted of a cosmic-ray detection package and a ring of micrometeorite erosion gauges. The Explorer 3 spacecraft was spin stabilized and had an on-board tape recorder to provide a complete radiation history for each orbit. Data from these instruments were transmitted to the ground by a 60-milliwatt transmitter operating on 108.03 megahertz and a 10-milliwatt transmitter operating on 108.00 MHz.
Transmitting antennas consisted of two fibreglass slot antennas in the body of the satellite itself and four flexible whips forming a turnstile antenna. The rotation of the satellite about its long axis kept the flexible whips extended.
The external skin of the instrument section was painted in alternate strips of white and dark green to provide passive temperature control of the satellite. The proportions of the light and dark strips were determined by studies of shadow-sunlight intervals based on firing time, trajectory, orbit, and inclination.
Electrical power was provided by nickel-cadmium chemical batteries that made up approximately 40 percent of the payload weight. These provided power that operated the high power transmitter for 31 days and the low-power transmitter for 105 days.
Because of the limited space available and the requirements for low weight, the Explorer-I instrumentation was designed and built with simplicity and high reliability in mind. It was completely successful.
Explorer 3 decayed from orbit on June 27, 1958, after 93 days of operation.
A replica of the spacecraft is currently located in the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, Milestones of Flight Gallery.
See also
Reference
- Data Sheet, Department of Astronautics, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
| Previous Mission: Explorer 2 | Explorer program | Next Mission: Explorer 4 |
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Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) was the agency formed to develop and the US Army's first intermediate range ballistic missile. It was established at Redstone Arsenal on 1 February 1956 and commanded by Major General John B. Medaris with Doctor Wernher von Braun.
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Earth science (also known as geoscience, the geosciences or the Earth Sciences), is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is arguably a special case in planetary science, the Earth being the only known life-bearing planet.
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EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001. Their greatest hit, their debut single "time after time", peaked at #13 in the Oricon singles chart.
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Jupiter C
A Jupiter-C sounding rocket on the launch pad
Fact sheet
Function Sounding rocket
Manufacturer Army Ballistic Missile Agency
Country of origin USA
Size
Height 21.2 m
Diameter 1.
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A Jupiter-C sounding rocket on the launch pad
Fact sheet
Function Sounding rocket
Manufacturer Army Ballistic Missile Agency
Country of origin USA
Size
Height 21.2 m
Diameter 1.
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June 27 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.
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The elements of an orbit are the parameters needed to specify that orbit uniquely, given a model of two point masses obeying the Newtonian laws of motion and the inverse-square law of gravitational attraction.
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semi-major axis (also semimajor axis) is used to describe the dimensions of ellipses and hyperbolae.
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Ellipse
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orbit's eccentricity, is an important parameter of the orbit that defines its absolute shape. Eccentricity may be interpreted as a measure of how much this shape deviates from a circle.
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Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction.
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Explorer-I, officially Satellite 1958 Alpha (and sometimes referred to as Explorer 1), was the first Earth satellite of the United States, having been launched at 10:48pm EST on January 31 (03:48 on 1 February in GMT), 1958, as part of the United States program for
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Cape Canaveral from the spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of that state's Atlantic coast at and is also 45 minutes East of Orlando by car.
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This article contains information regarding a spaceport which is either currently in the process of launching, or is scheduled to launch within the next week.
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March 26 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.
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Events
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Jupiter C
A Jupiter-C sounding rocket on the launch pad
Fact sheet
Function Sounding rocket
Manufacturer Army Ballistic Missile Agency
Country of origin USA
Size
Height 21.2 m
Diameter 1.
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A Jupiter-C sounding rocket on the launch pad
Fact sheet
Function Sounding rocket
Manufacturer Army Ballistic Missile Agency
Country of origin USA
Size
Height 21.2 m
Diameter 1.
..... Click the link for more information.
Jupiter C
A Jupiter-C sounding rocket on the launch pad
Fact sheet
Function Sounding rocket
Manufacturer Army Ballistic Missile Agency
Country of origin USA
Size
Height 21.2 m
Diameter 1.
..... Click the link for more information.
A Jupiter-C sounding rocket on the launch pad
Fact sheet
Function Sounding rocket
Manufacturer Army Ballistic Missile Agency
Country of origin USA
Size
Height 21.2 m
Diameter 1.
..... Click the link for more information.
Project Orbiter was a proposed spacecraft, an early competitor to Project Vanguard. It was jointly run by the United States Army and United States Navy. It was ultimately rejected by the Ad Hoc Committee on Special Capabilities, which selected proceeding with Vanguard instead.
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Project Vanguard was a program managed by the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), which intended to launch the first artificial satellite into Earth orbit using a Vanguard rocket as the launch vehicle.
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Sputnik 1 (Russian: "Спутник-1", "Satellite-1", or literally "Co-traveler-1" byname ПС-1 (PS-1, i.e.
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