Ranger 1
Ranger 1 Satellite in preparation for use at the Parade of Progress Show at the Public Hall, Cleveland, Ohio, August 1964
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| Mission type | Technology |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| Harvard designation | 1961 Phi 1 |
| SATCAT no. | 173 |
| Mission duration | 7 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| Launch mass | 306.2 kilograms (675 lb) |
| Power | 150.0 W |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | August 23, 1961, 06:02:00 UTC |
| Rocket | Atlas LV-3 Agena-B |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral LC-12 |
| End of mission | |
| Decay date | 30 August 1961 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime |
Low Earth (High Earth planned) |
| Semi-major axis | 6,690.3 kilometres (4,157.2 mi) |
| Eccentricity | 0.019939 |
| Perigee | 179 kilometres (111 mi) |
| Apogee | 446 kilometres (277 mi) |
| Inclination | 32.9 degrees |
| Period | 91.1 minutes |
| Revolution no. | 110 |
| Instruments | |
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Lyman-Alpha Telescope Magnetometer |
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Ranger 1 was a prototype spacecraft launched as part of the Ranger program of unmanned space missions. Its primary mission was to test the performance of those functions and parts necessary for carrying out subsequent lunar and planetary missions; a secondary objective was to study the nature of particles and fields in the space environment. Due to a launch vehicle malfunction, the spacecraft could only reach Low Earth orbit, rather than the high Earth orbit that had been planned, and was only able to complete part of its mission.
The spacecraft was of the Ranger Block I design and consisted of a hexagonal base 1.5-meter (4 ft 11 in) across upon which was mounted a cone-shaped 4-meter-high tower of aluminum struts and braces. Two solar panel wings measuring 5.2 metres (17 ft) from tip to tip extended from the base. A high-gain directional dish antenna was attached to the bottom of the base. Spacecraft experiments and other equipment were mounted on the base and tower. Instruments aboard the spacecraft included a Lyman-alpha telescope, a rubidium-vapor magnetometer, electrostatic analyzers, medium-energy range particle detectors, two triple coincidence telescopes, a cosmic-ray integrating ionization chamber, cosmic dust detectors, and solar X-ray scintillation counters. There was no camera or midcourse correction engine on the Block I spacecraft.
The communications system included the high-gain antenna and an omnidirectional medium-gain antenna and two transmitters, one at 960.1 MHz with 0.25 watts power output and the other at 960.05 MHz with 3 watts power output. Power was to be furnished by 8680 solar cells on the two panels, a 57-kilogram (126 lb) silver-zinc battery, and smaller batteries on some of the experiments. Attitude control was provided by a solid-state timing controller, Sun and Earth sensors, and pitch and roll jets. The temperature was controlled passively by gold plating, white paint, and polished aluminum surfaces.
The Ranger 1 spacecraft was designed to go into an Earth parking orbit and then move into a 60,000-by-1,100,000-kilometre (37,000 by 684,000 mi) Earth orbit. The purpose of the mission was mainly as an engineering test to verify the functionality of the Ranger hardware.
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