FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1893.PDF
700 FLIGHT International, 24 October 196:- Missiles and Spaceflight VELA HOTEL IN ORBIT On October 17 the US Defense Department launched into orbit two Vela Hotel spacecraft designed to lead to a satellite system for detecting nuclear explosions in space. The launch was made by Atlas Agena from Cape Canaveral. The nuclear test ban treaty which, amongst other things, prohibits nuclear testing in outer space had become effective six days previously. According to an Associated Press correspondent at Cape Canaveral, "The Defense Department, without explanation, tagged a secrecy label on the launching, and for the first time in more than six years newsmen were not informed in advance about a missile launching from Cape Canaveral." The two satellites, each weighing 4861b and 4ft in diameter, are among ten test spacecraft intended to determine the performance of the instruments and to study what is needed for a proposed oper- Two of the detection instruments carried aboard one of the Vela Hotel satellites, whose measure ments will be telemetered to Earth for analysis Official US caption to this picture states: "Artist's conception of Velc Hotel satellites, just before orbit action starts. Tandem spacecraft have separated from booster (lower left) and will themselves separate to go into circular orbits some 60,000 miles from Earth. Each 20-sided craft has X-ray detectors mounted on its twelve points; other instruments art inside. Designed to detect clandestine nuclear weapons blasts in space, the satellites will relay data to four global receiving stations. Instruments for Vela Hotel are being designed and built at the University of California's Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in New Mexico" ational system using six satellites. Initially placed in highly elliptical orbit with a perigee of 230 miles and apogee of 57,000 miles, each of the October 16 satellites carried a small rocket which was to be fired to achieve an eventual circular orbit at the initial apogee height. The firing of these rockets was timed so that the two satellites would be widely separated in orbit. The test satellites have been developed by Space Technology Laboratories and the US Atomic Energy Commission. The intention in placing pairs of satellites in widely spaced orbits is to guard against a false alarm which might be caused by cosmic-ray showers or bursts of solar radiation. It is considered unlikely that such phenomena could affect both payloads simultaneously, but this is among the factors to be determined by the experimental satellites. The spacecraft will "chart" the background space radiation so that a sudden burst of energy can readily be detected. It was reported that each of the two satellites is equipped with ten X-ray detectors, six gamma-ray detectors and a neutron detector. According to further reports from Cape Canaveral, another "piggyback" satellite was placed in orbit from the same Atlas Agena launch in order to measure radiation in the Van Allen belts. This is believed to have been one of the 6in TRS (tetrahedra! research satellite) series, weighing about 41b. TRIPLE LAUNCH BY THOR ABLESTAR The United States launched three satellites into orbit by a single Thor AbleStar vehicle from the Pacific Missile Range on Sep tember 28. The launch, designated 1963-38, placed the three pay- loads into orbit with the following approximate elements: inclin ation, 89.8C; period, 107.1min; apogee, 699 miles; perigee, 668 miles. The main spacecraft, 1963-38A, carries the SNAP-9A nuclear generator (Flight International, October 10) and probably is an oper ational Transit navigational satellite. Details of the third satellite. 1963-38C, have now been released by the Applied Physics Labor atory of Johns Hopkins University, who designed, built and tested it. Weighing 1351b and powered by solar cells and batteries, it carries four scientific experiments. Proton and electron spectrometers are carried to record the flux and energy of these particles in space. The effect of radiation on various transmitters and on the solar cells will also be studied, and the temperature of a number of thermal coating samples is being monitored. APL are analysing the data telemetred to Earth 136.65Mc/s at 0.75W, and the satellite transmits Doppler signals on 162 and 324Mc/s at 0.25W. $5,100 MILLION FOR SPACE The US House Appropriations Committee has voted $5,100m for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's 1964 programme. This total is $25 lm less than was authorized in separation legislation earlier, and $621 m less than President Kennedy .requested in his budget. The approved figure is $ 1,527m more than NASA's 1963 appropriation. Mr James Webb, NASA Administrator, said that the Committee s action was "an important milestone in our progress towards an adequate funding level for the years 1964-65," but pointed out thai NASA contracts with the aerospace industry must be cut back and the Apollo lunar programme slowed down unless this year s appropriations were increased to the authorized $5,350m. If tnis full amount was not voted or made up in a supplemental apprc priation later, Mr Webb said, the lunar programme would have t< be stretched out and would cost "perhaps two or three billion dollars" more. f In an amendment to the 1964 Appropriations Bill, the House o Representatives voted on October 10 that no NASA funds could oe >
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
