Download - 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