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jET~RR6'ULSION' ~A80RATORY
·.,CALlPQlNfA.INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
····'p~DiNA 3, CALIFORNIA
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-I ORDCIT Project
Contract No. DA 04-495-0rd-18
I Department of the Army
ORDNANCE CORPS
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I External Publication No. 491
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W. K: Victor
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46
I Copy No.
pp. 1-21
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JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
I California Institute of Technology
Pasadena 3, California
May 1, 1958
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I Jet Propulsion Laboratory External Publication No. 491
I U. S. EXPLORER SATELLITES1
rl I. INTRODl~TION
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vehicle successfully completed the proof
testing of the re-entry nose cone designed
•I 4 October, 1957:
for Jupiter .
The first artificial earth satellite was
launched by Russia, a major scientific
achievement bringing world-wide recognition.
I -----~l-T-h-i-s--p-a-p-e-r--p-r--e-s-e-n-t-s--t-h-e--r-e-s-ults of one phase of research
carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute
of Technology, under Contract No. DA-04-495-0rd 18, sponsored by the
'I Department of the Army Ordnan e Corps.
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I Jet Propulsion Laboratory External Publication No. 491
I sciences.
6 November, 1957: A formal presentation was made to the technical
I pc1el on the Earth Satellite Program proposing
I 31 January, 1958:
the IGY satellite program.
The birth of the first u. S. earth satellite,
I vehicles.
The micrometeorite experiment was performed in cooperation with
I the Air Force Cambridge Research Center (AFCRC). The cosmic-ray
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory External Publication No. 491
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or booster, was used to carry the high-speed rocket stages and the
payload to the injection altitude. The modified Redstone booster
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One of the modifications necessary was the inclusion of electric
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higher performance than is normally used in the Redstone missile .
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A third modification was the lengthening of the fuel tanks to permit
an i .Icrease in fuel-carrying capacity.
~.• The second, third, and fourth stages of the Jupiter C missile
were designed and developed by JPL.
solid-propellant rocket motors.
All stages used identical
These motors are about 3 feet long
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and 6 in. in diameter. The second stage used eleven of these
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I. selected for compatibility with the rocket motor and with the
electronic instrumentation contained within. The primary materials
used in its construction were stainless steel, fiberglass, and
micarta. The bullet-shaped nose cone was made of stainless steel
to resist aerodynamic heating encountered during the launch. The
outer cylinder was also made of stainless steel to carry the thrust
I loads and to preserve the alignment of the payload through the
assembly, checkout, and spin-up on axis. Fiberglass was used to
form the insulating rings between the nose cone and cylinder and
between the cylinder and the rocket motor. The electronic components
were mounted on micarta chassis boards to insulate them from the
outer shell. The proper balance between heat absorption and 11eat
reflection was maintained by means of aluminum oxide stripes on
the nose cone and cylinder.
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory External Publication No. 491
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All four of the temperature sensors changed their resistance
with temperature. The sensor formed part of an oscillating circuit
so that when the resistance increased, the frequency of the
oscillator increased also. The information transmitted by the
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satellite and picked up by the ground receiving stations was the
frequency of these resistance-controlled oscillators.
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,~. impact (see Table 2). A small ultrasonic microphone was placed in
spring contact with the steel cylinder of the payload. The impact
of a micrometeorite on the steel shell was amplified by a high-gain
transistor amplifier to the point where a particle with a very
small momentum would provide a pulse of sufficient amplitude to
trigger a flip-flop. When the output of the flip-flop was in the
"zero" st2te, the current-controlled telemetering subcarrier
oscillator connected to it had a frequency of about 900 cps. When
the satellite collided with the next micrometeorite, the flip-flop
would go to the "one" state and cause the telemetering oscillator
to change its frequency to approximately 1000 cps. With the next
collision, the frequency would alternate back to 900 cps. With
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory External Publication No. 491
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Jet Propulsion laboratory External Publication No. 491
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high-energy particles have penetrated the tube's steel shell, the
output flip-flop of the cosmic-ray scaler will change to the "one "
state and the frequency of the subcarrier oscillator will shift to
~ about 1350 cps. Thus, by noting each time the subcarrier changes
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frequency and multiplying by 16 it is possible to determine the
relative cosmic-ray intensity in space without further information.
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" The high-power transmitter is completely transistorized and
operated on a frequency of 108.03 mc with a power output of 60
milliwatts. The transmitter is composed of an oscillator operating
on 54.015 mc and a frequency-doubling RF amplifier operating with
an input of 54.015 me and an output of 108.03 mc. It is amplitude-
modulated with a modulation index of approximately 50%. The final
stage of the transmitter is collector-modulated in a rather
conventional manner. The high-power transmitter obtained its
primary power from a set of 24 RM-12 mercury batteries manufactured
by the P. R. Mallory Company. This transmitter delivered its
radio-frequency energy to a turnstile antenna system extending from
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory External Publication No. 491
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used to measure the internal temperature of the satellite. The
channel-4 oscillator frequency :is 960 cps; this channel operates
in conjunction with the mic~ophone system described previously.
The channel-5 oscillator frequency is centered about 1300 cps and
measur~s the cosmic-ray count. The life of the high-power
transmitter was approximately 2 weeks, as predicted.
The low-power transmitter is located in the nose of the
satellite. It operated on a frequency of 108.00 mc and delivered
approximately 10 milliwatts of power to the dipole antenna formed
by the nose cone and the cylinder. It was powered by a set of six
RM-42 mercury batteries and consisted of a 54 mc oscillator followed
by a frequency doubler. The low-power transmitter is phase-
modulated by a set of four subcarrier audio oscillators operating
within the standard FM/FM channels 2, 3, 4, and 5. Channel 2
measured the temperature of the nose cone. Channel 3 was used to
measure the nose-cone temperature during launch. Channel 4 measured
the number of micrometeorites (of sufficient size and momentum to
sever the wire) colliding with the wire gauge detectors. Channel 5
measured primary cosmic-ray intensity. The life of the low-power
transmitter was 2 to 3 months as predicted.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory External Publication No. 491
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were the low-power transmitter and the SUI Cosmic Ray Package,
modified. The low-power transmitter was essentially the same as
that used in Explorer I. Channel-3 telemetry measured internal
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temperature .in Explore..r III instead of nose-cone temperature, as in
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I Explorer I.
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The SUI Cosmic Ray Package is comprised of several pancake
foam-potted decks. The decks are stacked one upon the other and
>" bolted together to form a cylinder about 5 1/2 in. in diameter and
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e.
ft.
12 in. long. The stack of pancakes is slid into a tight-fitting
aluminum can for structural rigidity.
the various decks are:
The functions performed by
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i Deck B VHF receiver
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Deck C High-power transmitter, modulator,
high-voltage power supply
Deck D Tuning fork oscillator and scale of 4
Deck E Scale of 128
Deck F Scale of 128
Deck G Record-drive amplifier, playback circuit,
relay control circuits
Deck H Mercury batteries (receiver, transmitter)
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Mechanical Problem Solution
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while spinning at a rate in excess
of 450 rpm.
is 750 rpm).
(Jupiter C spin rate b.
nearer the spin axis.
Modify the tape-recorder
release mechanism.
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superheterodyne receiver operating in the VHF band with the
following characteristics:
Threshold sensitivity -100 dbm
Bandwidth 10 kc/s
';1 Noise figure >30 db
Supply voltage 10.4 v
I Power consumption, 21 mw
•I non-interrogated
Power consumption,
interrogated
210 mw
The design of the receiver was excellent for the application; the
I actual hardware supplied by NRL passed all of the environmental
; .•. tests without a single failure.
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I CALIBRATION PROCEDURES
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Temperature. In general, the calibration of the telemetry
channels was accomplished in two steps. First, the subcarrier
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oscillators were placed in an oven, and their frequency variation
as a function of temperature was recorded. Simulated detectors,
placed outside the oven, were connected to the oscillators and
var:ed over the expected range of resistance. Then the oscillators
were removed from the oven, and the actual detectors were placed
in the oven for calibration. Calibration curves were plotted
showing the frequency change of the oscillator as a function of
the temperature of the sensor and the temperature of the oscillator.
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Micrometeorite Microphone Detector. Small glass beads were
dropped onto the steel cylinder of the assembled payload.
momentum was calculated knowing the mass of the beams and its
The
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b.
Relative counting rate as a function of temperature.
Relative counting rate as a function of supply voltage.
•I c.
d.
Standard source-standard distance measurement to serve
as a reference for later absolute calibrations.
Absolute efficiency based on a ratio of a 3-fold to 2-fold
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count in an omnidirectional field.
An after-the-fact calibration will be performed by the State
University of Iowa to determine the effective length of the G-M
tube in the payload configuration and to assist in determining
absolute magnitude of the omnidirectional field for a given recorded
count rate.
Calibration data for Explorer I is contained in JPL Publication
No. 130, entitled "Calibration Record for the IGY Earth Satellite
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JPL Publication No. 127, entitled IICalibration Record for the IGY
Earth Satellite 1958 Gamma."
•I VI.
Questions relating
INFORMATION TRANSMITTED BY THE EXPLORERS
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When this report was written Explorer I had been in orbit two
and one-half months. During this time the coldest temperature
reached by the nose-cone skin sensor was -30°C; the hottest
temperature, +75°C. However, for anyone orbit it appears that
,? il·.:·· the outer skin experienced a total temperature variation of about
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80 to 90 o C. The internal temperature of the payload varies much
less than the outside temperature due to the insulation provided.
The temperature inside Explorer I varies from 0 to 35°C inside the
cylinder and from 5 to 40 0 C inside the nose cone. Data from
Explorer III indicate that the temperatures it will experience will
be similar to those measured in Explorer I. Internal temperatures
measured during a 2-week observation period were 0 to 30 0 C inside
the nose cone and 5 to 35°C inside the cylinder.
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VII. EXPLORER SATELLITES IN ORBIT
'I small compared with that at the surface of the earth, the satellite
still collides with enough air molecules to slow it down a small
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the altitude at apogee and the time to complete one orbit also
decreases. Therefore, by noting the rate at which the period
:' decreases, it is possible to predict the expected lifetime of the
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory External Publication No. 491
•I Table 2.
Measurement
Micrometeorite Sensors Used in Explorer I
Detector
Type
Manufacturer
and Model
Measurement
Range
I Meteorite Detectors
Number of gauges 17-J.-L wire AFCRC Will register
I opened by meteorite
collisons
on 1 sq cm
patch
up to 12 open
gauges by
collison with
meteorites
I greater than
5 J-L in diam.
I Micrometeorite
collisons with
Ultrasonic
microphone
Temple
University
Detects all
meteorites
cylinder as they and AFCRC with
I occur momentums of
6 to 18
milligram
cm/sec and
I above
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I Jet Propulsion Laboratory External Publication No. 491
I Sensors 7 4
Temperature detectors 4 2
I Meteorite detectors 2 1
I Antennas 1 dipole
1 turnstile
2 dipoles, one
duplexed with
receiver
I Transistors, total 42 107
High-power transmitter Continuous for Intermittent for
I 2 weeks 2 months
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I Jet Propulsion Laboratory External Publication No. 491
I Measurement Detector
Type
Manufacturer and
Model
Measurement
Range, °c
I Nose-cone skin
Temperature Detectors
Thermistor GE·· Carboloy -50 to 150
RF 11
I Internal, at base Thermistor VECa
of G-M tube No. 32A12 -10 to 80
'I Meteorite Detector
I Number of gauges
opened by
meteorite
17-/J. wire on
on 1 sq cm
patch
AFCRC Register up to
12 open gauges
by collison
collisons with
I meteorites
greater than
5 /J. in diam.
I Cosmic-Ray Detector
o to 640
I Primary cosmic-ray
intensity
Geiger-
Mueller
tube
Anton Electronic
Labs. No. 314 particles/
sec
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Table 5. Comparison of Explorer III with Original Vanguard Package II
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Explorer III Vanguard SUI Package II "U
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Telemetry ::l
Assignment I Information Transmitted Telemetry Assignment Information Transmitted I"-
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HP
108.03 mc
I Stored cosmic-ray data
on command
HP
108.00 mc
Stored cosmic-ray data
on command
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LP5 Continuous cosmic ray 3500-cps subcarrier Continuous cosmic ray
pulse FM
I Orbital
Characteristic
Explorer I
(after 2 1/2 months
Explorer III
(after 2 weeks in
in orbit) in orbit.)
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Perigee, miles 220 117
Apogee, miles 1563 1740
I Eccentricity 0.1383 0.166
II Inclination to equatorial
plane, deg
33.14 33.46
I Westward precession,
deg/day
4.31 4.25
I Orbit number
Date
786
4/4/58
71
4/1/58
Time of crossing 16 H 8M 42S, GMT 9H 38M 1 7S, GMT
I Longitude crossing
ascending node
2 0 49' 20 11 east 114 0 4' 4111 west
Longitude of perigee 153 0 east 11 0 -east
I Altitude 1500 miles 1320 miles
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