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PLO alloN EWS R E LEAS ENATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

A w400 MARYLAND AVENUE. SW. WASHINGTON 25, D CTELEPHONES WORTH 2-4155--WORTH 3- 1110

/ FOR RELE.?,.1E: UPOON LAUNCH (4/26/62)JOINT US-UKRE.LEASE NO. 62-73

P R E S K I T

S* S-53

WQRLD'S FIROT INTERNATIONAL SATELLITE

Table of Contents

1. General Nevis Summary .......................... ,Page I2. S-51 Project Pa.^ftlclpants ........................ age 53. Eight Nations Cooperate in Tracking S-51 ........ Page 74. Fact Sheet on Delta launch Vehicle..............Page 85. S-51 Spacecraft and Subsysterws Technical

Description ........ ... . . ..... , .,........ Page 10

FOR RELEASE UPON LAUNCH

* (Nam.ed ARIEL after successful launch)

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N EWS R E LEAS ENATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

g Ay 400 MARYLAND AVENUE, SW, WASHINGTON 25 , D C.TEIEPHONES WORTH 2-4155-WORTH 3 11IOFOR RELEASE UPON LAUNCH

JOINT US-UKRELEASE NO. 62-73

S-51 PRESS KIT

Cape Canaveral, Florida--The United States today launchedthe woi ld's first International Satellite, carrying experimentsprepared by the United Kingdom to acquire more knowledge of theionosphere and its complex relationships with the sun.The National Aercnautics and Space Administration launchedthe 132-pound scientific spacecraft, designated S-51, Into aplanned elliptical orbit ranging from 200 to 600 statute miles( above the earth, by a three-stage Delta rocket vehicle.The U. S. spacecraft built by NASA's Goddard Space FlightCenter, Greenbelt, Maryland, carried six British experimentsin an integrated assault on the unknowns of the ionosphere,the radio reflective layer which begins some 35 miles abovethe earth where the atmosphere is extremely tenuous. Inthis region, incoming high energy radiations from the sun--x-rays and ultra-violet--collide with air molecules andatoms, freeing electrons and leaving positively chargedatoms or ions.These clouds of free electrons and charged ions form asuccession oi electrically-charged layers that extend up towhere the earthts atmivsphere merges with outer space. Theionosphere filters out dangerous sun radiations and at thesame time acts as a mirror to radio waves making communica-tions across international distances possible.S-51 carries three ionospheric experiments to measureelectron density and temperature and the composition ofpositive ions. Two experiments will attempt to monitorthe intensity of' radiation from the sun in the ultra-violet

(Lyman-Alpha fine of the sun's surface, or chromosphere)(OVEyR)

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and x-ray bands, of the :soJar corona. The sixth experiment-ill) attempt to mea.;sur cosmic ray;. Thiz exper'ment will besupported by - .imultannou.s mea-urements of cosmLC rays fromthe ground ani by aircraft and balloon Vlights.

The spacecraft was launche6 fiom the Atlantic MissileRange at Citpe Canaveral, Plorida, with a planned inclinationof 55 degrees to the equator. The planned orbital. period Isapproximately 10() minutes.

The international s.pececraft will be tracked by thirteenstatlons of NASA'.; Minltrack Net.ork ln eight countries;. Besldesthe United States and England, the c-)untriens cooperating in thenetwork on thi; project are Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Union ofSouth Africa, Australia and Newfoundland.The program Involvirn, the S-'31. originated in a Unit'nd';tate.s proposal. to represeintative:- of COSPAR (Committee onSpace Research of the International Council of Sclentific

Unions) in March, 1959. At that time thc U. S. governmentoffered to launch individual exnerirmiernts or entire payloadsdesJigned by foreign secionet.1.;ts, wh(en s;uch experiment; were ofmutual s;cl.entillc lnteres;t. The United Kingdom was one ofthe first to accept this ol'.'er. .';clent-ifi.c Informatl.oncomIng from trie p-5rogram a, -vell as all other NASAscientific endeavors will] be mnade ava.l lable to th e worldocilntif Ic commiin.ity, in con'c)imance wi h thc Amiericanconc ept; of co i luct nfg an "open ;pao e prorram.Scienti t'ie direct io n fo th.,:; ,joinl. U.'I.--U.K. projes"t;is- provi dod by Dr. Homer E'. ie [1, Director, Off lee of' SpaceSciences, NASA iHeadquarters, Washihngton, D. C., who repres;ent..

th e United tates, an( lrofS';;or 'ir llarrie Massey, Chairmnanof th e BrIti-t li National Coiiunilttee on Space Resenrch, London,who represent; th e Uni ted Kingdom.Each country ha:; an p-pj Jec t manager, rcj(ct

coordinator, and project ;.c; entit:;t,;. All working Jicci-slon!3are subject to the approval of th e project managers. Respon-sib 1.1 ty for th e coordlnat ion of' the program restf3 with theproject coo1dllnator-;s. Project sc l ent:Lst are responsiblefor tlhe r)roper' furnctioni ng of ' th e varIouLs e;cperiInents.Overall po:llcy matter,; ar( decided by the NASA Admin:.itratorfor the U. S'. and by the Chai rman of' th e B3ritlesh .Nati onalCommlttee for S3pace Rescarch for th e U. K. Li nes of'aut;h1orl t;y and respors 1bll tly are shown 1n th e attacher.

,2.

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N.A.S.A. U. K.

r . ' ........ I SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTATION & DATA INTERPRETATIG.,

GODDARD SPACE NASA GSFC - - - - IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OFFLIGHT CENTER PROJ. SCIENTISTCOLLEGE COLLEGE BIRMINGHAM

ASPECT ELEITRONCOSMIC RAY- E RDNST

rSATELLI It TRACKING SATELLITE DATA VEHICLE 8UNi. OFSTRUCTURE & DATA INSTRUMEN- PROCES1NG LAUNCH LEICESTER8 MECHANISMS ACQUISITION TATION- COORD.

| OWER SOLAR IONS ANDSUPPI Y RIATION ELECTRONS

ENCODING |l||rE~TO4

TELECTETRY5 & ATA q YMAI - LPHA| HTEMPERATUJREI

} STRAGEJ l | |& DE1NSITY

[ | | | ION MASS |TLMTY|| X-RAYS | SPECTRUM 8X l | |TEMlPERATURE1

FRIME RESPONSIBILITIES INTERNATIONAL IONOSPHERE SATELLITE S-51

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3United States responsibilities for the project are beingcarried out by:

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, which providedsome 112 man years for the project. It was responsiblefor the design, fabrication, and testing of the space-craft structurc, power supply, telemetry, commandreceL.ver, temperature control and data storage. Goddard'sField Projects Branch provided necessary launch facilitiesat the Atlantic Missile R-tnge.

NIASM's Langley PRc:;arch Center provded a 62-footvacuum tet sphere for payload system test and checkout.The United Kingdom responslbilities are being carriedout by:

Imperial College, London, which has a cosmic rayexperiment aboard and will make aircraft measurement3of the inten:;tty of ' , vnary co::mLc rayS.

University oP 131rr1fnlrh'iiai. nilcch ha, an (>1ectrondensity experiment.University College, London, which has the electrontempcratiire, solar ultra-violet emission (Liyman-A].pha),:;olar hard x-ray spectrum, lonosphere compositionxpoerilmcnts and the payload aspect, sensor.Unlvs!rsity of' Lelcester, which is participating inthe, x-ray cXpcri mrnnt.

In General', the U. IC. ad responsi7bility for the design,fabrication, and testing of all f]lght oennsoro apd theirassocelated electronics up to the telemetry encoder input.The U. K. a1l:o tandJdl cr- data analysi s and interpretation.The ll. S. was recsponJible for all spacecraft subsystemsexcept tLh' experiment;, and for, launching the satellite I.ntoorblt. T1h10 U. S. performs tracking, data acquisition, and

data pcocess;il.ng at the Goddard S'pace Flight Conter. The1 K Will 1 ass i t In the ac(upisIti~on of' telemetored data.Tndividua.l experiments- relating to tituoe In the S-'5:I.

have been performed In othcr soundilngr rocket and satellitel.aiinchingrs. H1owever, S-51 represents a combined s',sault tostudy the Oron:,phe(i',(a'id I h" -,un's radiations at one time.- 3S (OVER)

L -- . ^=,

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- )I;

Trhr. p!r.linary purpose of S-51's cosmic ray experiment -ist, .Inv, ;;t:I.te time variations, of heavy nuclel. .ln the prImary\ o.:rnl ( ;d,-ai '- )1, Z; ,ng a thi.n -iale.d omni dlirecti ona.l counter.

Th- p' pe.r ' th;' %-raIy and u'ltra .v.i o.l-t measurcement:;.I., to Ci ta? , T- J't( 1 .C t kn:x iJ .1 L' 'i1 ! .1 r : I.Uo.. ..r'n~m th1, ~;ul.

.t oiar zr-ray; were l'irst quantitatI.voly measured In 19)19,uti llz.l ni thin bocryl l l.um-wj ndow photocourntemr in a V-? rockCetflJ I it. Th, Lyinan-Alpha lino ot' hydrogen wa;, first detectedin -j932. 'l(nco that timo, there have beon several dozenmen :ur'cml;it, urf tio .; tar x-rmy and hydrogen Lyman-Alplha*tzitln;.1r :.tI ', u i il..1r, var lou; r'oc6.t:- Illncluding, Aerobo-*lIl(i th :*o.o;L- n;.nt:ln.; controls) . Ililce -IY~;?( on and I-lke-APii..r, ad d iltm)tl, th-. U. ' :' O'WILALi ii ;,Acar Ob;:e!w8 .rycux''~, it .l'J .i.; loaki ntj, xllwaspumr-nnt.- I n thie ,x-va, gramm:i vi.yand ulJtra-v:;olet portlon of the ;un's; 'i'ctrorflagnctuec

spectrilal.

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Atlantic Missiell Har-rier'r. C. P. Smith Vehicle Coordination

II. Coimi .'r ":i! C nIA - l;m"'[a:;hi ngton Teicc hnolo-ical ''pacecrat, 't ietturc ManufactiureA soe i atesChance Vought Astronautics Separation System, Hold Down andrelease of appendagesAerolab Development Corp. Do-.;pin MechanismElectro-Mechanical. Research 1.'ncodet' Fabricat1onGeneral Time Encoder ClockGulton Industries BatterIesSpectrolab Xolar Paddles

British Contractors

McMichael Radio, Ltd. rc:;i.gned electronics and prouIcedhar(ldare fo r Cosmic Ray ExperimentG. & E. Bradley Marfiuact;Lred storerst for electronden:s i ty experimentPOth Centuiry Electronlco Ilantfactured X-Ray Counters andLyman-Alpiia detectorsPye, Ltd. Memory .;torers for electron);pmeri ment and ma,:; spectrometer13rl st.ol Aircratt, Ttd(. De ;igfned an d inanul'actijred X--Ray

SvpoctromLeter; Designed andwanilactitred EIIT greneratorNASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has project manage-ment responsblb 1itiecs for the S-'-] nproject.The Royal (Iocleity, through the Br tiUshi National Committeefor1 Spacoe Rles.3ealch, has system management responsi biliti eos fo rthe S-')l experImennts systecn.Goddard has system managemcnt responsibilities fo r the;-JJl. spacecraft ,;y.stem.roddard has system management rosponsibIlitIes for theS-51 -,.clking data acqu:i.sitl on and .lata processing, system.Acquired dlata wIll be sent to the United Kingdom, which has

responrsIbi 1, ty fv sci enti fic reduction and analysis.6-I-,4

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EIGHT NATIONS COOPERATE IN TRACKING INTERNATIONAL SATELLITE

Besides the United States and E*ngland, six other countriesare participating in NASA's Minitrack Network which is trackIngthe world's first international spacecraft, the S-51.The International ;:atellitc, which i5 s expected to sendinformation back to earth for a year before its transmissions

are automatically term:inated, is t. o bc tracked by the followingstations:An ofaga..ta, Chlec-,; Blossom Point, La Plata, Maryland;Lima, Peru; Q-dto, Ecuador; Mojave, Ca].ifornia; Santiago,Chile; Johinnesburg, Union of South Africa; Woomera,Au.stralia; Fort Myers, Florida; St. John3, Newfoundland;Eas;t Grand Forks, Minnesota; and W.nkflf eld, England.T:ie Goddard 2pace Flight Center at Greenbelt, Marylandwhich has sole rezponsibility for the Minltrack Network,will rece:ive 8-51 telemetry tape;, edit and process themInto digital magnetic tape:; and thene send them to theUnited 1(ingdomr for analy;i.l, by the sclientli i experlimenters.The preliminary planned orbi-t of the '2-51 a.; computedprior to ]aunch indicated that in.suifificlent Minitrack track-.lng data would be obtained during the firs;t -12 hours ofoperation to accurately define the satellite's orbit.During it,, first 12 hours the 2- 51 will pass within rangeof only two of.' the Minitrack's network Stations. Within th e

next 12 hours, however, it Is expected to make 18 passesclose enough for stations to pick up its signals and todetermine whether the satellite i.,,n its expectpd orbItand whether lt: expcriments are functioning.Therefore, confirmation of the satellite orbit andLnstrumentation performance will not be available untilabout 01 1 hotrs aL'ter launch.

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lI

FACT SHEET ON DELTA

The Delta rocket vehicle used to launch S-51 has orbi.tedseven NASA satellites in eight attempts. Echo I, Tiros II,III and IV, Explorers X and XII, and OSO-1 (Orbiting SolarObservatory). The Delta ha. these characteristics:Height: 90 feetMax. Diameter: 8 feetLift-off 'Wleight: Nearly 112,000 pounds

First Stage (Modified Douglas Thor):Fuel: Liquid (LOX and kerosene)Thrust: About 150,000 poundsBurning Time: 160 seconds

Second stage (Aerojet General.):Fniel: I, qu diThrust: Tlhout,500 . I'x:Bu rn i ng r T n': '0( :s condls

Thirri .ft:,.r (A ! n,, 1-t 1B 1 ;tlcs. Laboratory X-218):Fluel: SolidThrust: About 3,000 pound:..Burning Time: 40 second. (After ( minluitte coast)

Planned Launch Sequence of S-'1]Thim first stage falls away on burnout. The second stageignites immedi.ately. The nose fairing which covers the thirdstage and payload is jetti.soned.The second stage then burns out. The second and thirdstages coast and yaw untiLl the peak of the ascent path isreached and the vehicle .. aligned lwith its programmedattitudeC. The tht rd stage splns un to approximately 160 rpmand :Igni.tb,.The second stage separates and reti o-rockets f'irc. Thethird stage burn. out. The rocket coasts to allow outgassing(thrust) of the third stage to cease. Dc-.spin of the third

stage-payload combination to approxi.mately '70 rpm occurs byreleas ng the "^,tretch yo-yo" dc-sptn dev.1 cc.

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The experiment booms release and are erected, therebyde-spinning the spacecraft again to approximately 47 rpm.Third de-spin to 35 rpm occurs with the release and erectionof the inertia booms and solar paddles. The spacecraftseparates from the third stage at a differential velocity ofapproximately seven feet per second.

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S-51 1PACECRAFT AND SUBSYOTEM` TE-cMIICAL DESCRIPTION

The basic conf'igruration of the S-51, which must fit theshroud o' thhe Delta roc.ket's, spacecraft compartment, Is thatof a short,, fat cylinder 10-11i,/16 incrle:3 long and 23 inchesIn dlametcr.Each end of the cylinder has a spherical sect,.1on with aninboard terminator circle 23 inches in diameter and a smalleroutboard terminator circle 8-7/16 inches in diameter. TheseSpherical sections are 5-7/16 inches in diameter. Thesespherilcal sect:tons are 5-1/4 inches 1'ng with an outer surface

radlo.; ot' 13-1./,e inchc:;. To this baslc confi.guration areattached the var-.lous appendago,,s necessary to support andconduct the spacecraft experimentls.The spin axis of the satellite Is the central. axis ofthe cylnder. This is also cons;idered as the vertical axis.

At the bottom of the spacecraft Is a 9-3/8 inch diameterthird stage separation flange. Here, an electron tempera-tui'e gage and thc tape. recorder are installed.IEh'-tonndiJ iq out horizontally from about mildway tip the lowerspherical section at )00 Intervals around the circumference of 'the satelllte are ('our solar pariddes,.Two V'our-foot booms are of'fset )15O.circimf'c!renttally fromthe solar paddles. They are oppos2ite to and exactly counter-

balance each other, and extend radially In the :;ame horizontalplane. The end of' once boom holds two ctrcu:lar condenser platesof the electron density ,;ensor. ElectronIcs as,,:oclated withthis .:xperimen{. are housed In a 4-1/4lInch dLameter by 6-1i/4)inch long cyli.nder mounted on the boom close to the spacecrafthody. The end of the other boom holds a second electrontcnmpev:LtturC gage, whosCe electronics are located inside thespacecraft. A 3-1/2 Inch d:iaineter hemi.spher:tcal. solar aspectsensor t:, located on the central cylinder section.On top of the spacecraft in line with the spin ax-Is Isa 5-inch diameter cylinder containing the cosmic ray Cercnkovdetector. Above this on a 4i-Inch long con:i.cal section taperingfrom aL 3-inch to a 1-inch diameter is a 14-inch diameter Ionmass s3phere.

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