Space Explorers History

7/27/2019 Space Explorers History

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SPACE EXLORER

PROPULSION LABORATORY

Californa Institute of Technology Pasadena 3, Califrni


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p wh xp v o

EXPLORER

D Wii a H Pick ing Dict Jt Pusin abaty aifnia Institut fcngy

Ma n Jn Mdismanding na UA y O d n a n c M i s s i and

PROGRAM

On Janua 3, 958, a 055 p.m. Easen Sandad

Time, Explorer he Fee Wold's s saellie was placed

in obi aound he eah. This hisoic even occuedaou seven minues afe he Unied Saes Am's muli

sage Jupiter launching vehicle began is swif ascent

fom he Missile Tes Cene (MTC) at Cape Canaveal,

Floida. Fo pehps he nex v eas, his 30pound

80inchlong moon is expeced o log abou 375,000 miles

pe da, ccumulaing new infomaion on condiions

encouneed ouside eah's amosphee. In apid scces

sion, ohe Ameican saellies ae now being launched,

each conaining seveal dieen pes of insumenaion.

The Explorer pogam was oiginaed and dieced

joinl b he Am Ballisic Missile Agenc (ABMA)

and e Je Populsion Laboao (JPL), Califonia

Insiue of Technolog. Bu much cedi is given o ohe

eseach goups and indusial subconacos who con

ibued o his success. Eve eah saellie demonsaes

he cuen advanced sae of almos all he scienic

and engineeing disciplines. Pa of he philosoph bac

of he space Explorer pogram emphasizes he value o

selecing, whee possible, onl pefomancepoven and

elaivel simple componens fo incopoaion in complex

new equipmen Odinail, such a procedure minimizesboh he cos and he ime of developmen and assues

ssem eliabli and uimae success.

Thei welve ips dai around he earh bing he

space Explorers close o he man saellie acing sa

ions ha ouinel ecod he adio eleme signals

Sensing insrumens own in he Explorers now give all

scieniss of he wold accss o val space inormaion,

increasing hei undesanding o h univese Aso

nauical enginees ae now sue ha inenal empeaue

of space vehicles can be mainained wihin saisfaco

opeaional limis. Fo e s ime, eliable dta ae

available peaining o micomeeoies ad inesella

dus encouneed above he eah's amosphee. Cosmic

a paicle couns ae being allied aound he eah

a all imes and in all diecions. Eplorer pogams now

being planned fo he fuure will coninue o conribue

ieo unnown and unexpeced infomaion o man's

soehouse of nowledg.


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D W n h v n B a u n chnca Dc AmyBac M Agncy

D Jack . Fhc h ac Dc J naay

CONCENTRIC

STAGE 3

HGH-SPEED

SPINNNG STAGES

MODIFED

REDSONE

PROPLSON

STAGE

'

PAYLOAD

STAGE 4

ANNULAR

STAGE

UIDANCE SECTION

WTH AR JETS

Amy p ag aunchng xp a

FOUNDATONS FO SUCCESS

Lauhig Vehie

As eal as Aprl, 956, ocials a boh ABMA and

JPL had saed h a proven Arm missie ssem, he

Juper coud read be moded o provde he oce

vehce necessar o aunch a saelie. Juper con

ssed o a Redsone mssie as Sage , pus wo higspeed sages made up o clusers o solid-popellan

moors Sage had an annula cluse o eleven oos,

and he concenric Sage 3 had a cluse o hee moos

All soldpropellan moors used wee scaleddown om

he JPLdeveloped Sergea, one o he Arms suace

o-surace ballisic missiles Clculaion showed ha he

addiion o anohe moor, o propel an adiional sage,

would be more han adequae o pace a signican

nsrumened paoad in orbi

Fo obaining addiioal energ, he liquidpopellan

Redso propulsion ssem had been adaped o use a

new hdrazine-base uel. The spinsabilized concnic

clusers o scale See roces could readil be imple

mened wh a modied me o launch a na saellie

age Elaborae screening, sorage, and igh ess had

poved ha composie rubberlie JPL popellan omula

ons would peom well, even while subjeced to an

mes he cenriugal sran imposed b apid spinning

Nose-Coe Re-etry ests

The rs jupiter es vehicle was compleed and successull igh-esed in Sepember, 956. I reached an

aiude o near 700 mes and a speed o abou 3,000

mph, and impaced a a predeermned poin o he

coas o Arica, more han 3000 mes rom he Floridalaunching se Durng his gh es, he remarable

sensiiv o a new JPL phaseloc radio eceive ssem,

caled Mcolock was demonsaed This mcrowave ss

em raced a n 0-miliwa ansmer o he ocal

horzon, amos o missile impac.In subsequen ess, he 70-oo-long Juper missiles

successul compleed hei eenr ( RTV) mission. For

he rs me, i was ghproved ha a correcl shaped

and consruced nose cone coud proec a warhead rom

damage b he inense aerodnamc hea generaed above

Mach 8, when a missie reeners dense ar. One o hese

een cones was erieved b he US Nav om e

Alanic Laer, on November 7, 957, hs RTV cone was

shown o a naionwde eevson audience b Pesiden

Eisenhower On he nex da, Secear o Deense

McElo uhoized Majo Geneal Medais an oco

Pcerng o go ahead wh he proposed modicaion o

Juper and o aemp an IGY saellie launching


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HIGH-POWER TRANSMTER

EOSION GAGS ( !

MCROMTEORE

ULTRASONC

COSMC RAY AND

MCROMETEORE

PACKAGETEMPERATURE GAUGE

Sateite Costrutio

ihin wo monhs afer he ocia decision o proceedhad been made, he Eporer saeie, incuding he

fourhsage soidpropean moor, had been fabricaed

and was being esed under vacuum, refrigeraion, hea,

and vibraion environmens b JPL. A componens were

proved o be read for na assemb we ahead of

a sefimposed hreemonh consrucion schedue. The

Naiona Academ of Sciences IY insrumenaionassigned o he rs experimen had been modied b

JPL engineers o inside he cindrica Eplorer

conguraion.

Dnamic baance was achieved b precise machining

and b counerweighs Spare highspeed roce cusers

( Sages 2 nd 3) were si avaiabe from he earier

RTV ess Maaignmens of heav roaing assembies

ad been ep wihin ess han 000 inch. Since he

PROBE

RNGMCROMETEORTE

EROSON GAUGS

xs and shwng ayad numn

muisage saeie vehice aeo weigh had o be abou

000 imes he paoad weigh, ever added ounce ha

o perform a needed funcion. u where possibe, dua

or ripe ssems were used o nsure overa reiabii,

despie he weigh penaies

Appearae

Exerna, he Eporer saeies consis of wo mainpars; rs, he 33inchong insrumen comparmen, or

paoad, and second, he 7inchong fourhsage moor

case hese are herma and eecrica nsuaed from

each oher Eporer has four urnsie anennas, whereas

Eporer has no exerna anennas. Two in ans

miers and seven ransducing insrumens are housed n

Scle w o e oe ble ve ee re o pe 10 of bocre

SM RAY

XR MARE

GAG

HGHPOWER RANSMITER

WH RECORDR AND

NERROGATON RCVR

RANSMER

he paoad comparmen. Is ouer she consiss o a

2inchong sainesssee nose cone and a 2inchong

sainesssee cinder, 6.25 inches in diameer.

In orbi, he emperaure excursions of he ouer she

are severe when he saeie goes from fu sunigh o

fu earh shade A saisfacor range of nsrumen opera

ing emperau res ( 3 o 0 F ) is, however, acieved

b mouning a eecrica devices on rigid paics for

insuaion from he exerior mea and aso b seecive

absorpion of sunigh. For his purpose, eigh equa

spaced auminum oxide sripes of preccuaed 0.625

inch widh are amespraed enghwis aong he ouside

of he insrumen housing and nose cone. These whie

ceramic sripes reec a higher percenage of he suns

infrared radiaion han does bare see. A baanced reec

ivi heps reven aernae overheaing and freezing

of eecrica eemens when he Eporers are, respecive,

in exposed and in shaded secors of her orbi


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Intn akag a

by f Explrer

SATELTE

NSTRUMENTATON

Eporer

Transmitters. Inside Explorer he 85pound pa

oad assemb consiss of seven miniaurized sensing

ransucers, wo siiconransisor ransmiers, and heir

mercr baer power supplies The higherpower rans

mier radiaed 60 miiwas coninuous a 0803 mega

cces for approximae wo wees I weighed abou wo

pounds wih is four eemeering osciaors and was

powered b one and onehaf ponds of baeries Four

27inchong braided anenna wires are ached o he

brosgass reinforced pasic ring o which he forh

sage roce moor case is permanenl fasened

Signas from his highpower uni were recorded b

h prfessiona and ameur radio operaors around

e word when he saeie was above heir local orizon

Four dieren audio ones were elemeered simua

neous b he highpower uni hrough ampliude odu

aion of he carrier frequenc Eiher a sepwise or

gradua pich change provides informaion abou e

saeies environmen (see Table on page 6)

Microlock. The lowerpower ransmier n Explorer

radiaed on 0 miiwas a 0800 megacces This

uni elemeered coninuous much he same informa

ion as did he highpower uni However, because of he

lower power consumpion and arger baer supp, i

6 ps

SKIN

TEPEATUE

J8

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