PLO ooall

N EWS R E LEAS E
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
A w400 MARYLAND AVENUE. SW. WASHINGTON 25, D C
TELEPHONES WORTH 2-4155--WORTH 3- 1110

/ FOR RELE.?,.1E: UPOON LAUNCH (4/26/62)

JOINT US-UK
RE.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 I

2. S-51 Project Pa.^ftlclpants ........................Page 5

3. Eight Nations Cooperate in Tracking S-51 ........ Page 7

4. Fact Sheet on Delta launch Vehicle..............Page 8

5. S-51 Spacecraft and Subsysterws Technical

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

FOR RELEASE UPON LAUNCH

* (Nam.ed ARIEL after successful launch)

 N EWS R E LEAS E
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
g Ay 400 MARYLAND AVENUE, SW, WASHINGTON 25, D C.
TEIEPHONES WORTH 2-4155-WORTH 3 11IO

FOR RELEASE: UPON LAUNCH

JOINT US-UK
RELEASE NO. 62-73

S-51 PRESS KIT

Cape Canaveral, Florida--The United States today launched

the woi ld's first International Satellite, carrying experiments
prepared by the United Kingdom to acquire more knowledge of the
ionosphere and its complex relationships with the sun.

The National Aercnautics and Space Administration launched

the 132-pound scientific spacecraft, designated S-51, Into a
planned 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 Flight

Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, carried six British experiments
in an integrated assault on the unknowns of the ionosphere,
the radio reflective layer which begins some 35 miles above
the earth where the atmosphere is extremely tenuous. In
this region, incoming high energy radiations from the sun--
x-rays and ultra-violet--collide with air molecules and
atoms, freeing electrons and leaving positively charged
atoms or ions.

These clouds of free electrons and charged ions form a

succession oi electrically-charged layers that extend up to
where the earthts atmivsphere merges with outer space. The
ionosphere filters out dangerous sun radiations and at the
same time acts as a mirror to radio waves making communica-
tions across international distances possible.

S-51 carries three ionospheric experiments to measure

electron density and temperature and the composition of
positive ions. Two experiments will attempt to monitor
the intensity of' radiation from the sun in the ultra-violet
(Lyman-Alpha fine of the sun's surface, or chromosphere)

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

The spacecraft was launche6 fiom the Atlantic Missile

Range at Citpe Canaveral, Plorida, with a planned inclination
of 55 degrees to the equator. The planned orbital. period Is
approximately 10() minutes.

The international s.pececraft will be tracked by thirteen

statlons of NASA'.; Minltrack Net.ork ln eight countries;. Besldes
the United States and England, the c-)untriens cooperating in the
network on thi; project are Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Union of
South Africa, Australia and Newfoundland.

The program Involvirn, the S-'31. originated in a Unit'nd

';tate.s proposal. to represeintative:- of COSPAR (Committee on
Space Research of the International Council of Sclentific
Unions) in March, 1959. At that time thc U. S. government
offered to launch individual exnerirmiernts or entire payloads
desJigned by foreign secionet.1.;ts, wh(en s;uch experiment; were of
mutual s;cl.entillc lnteres;t. The United Kingdom was one of
the first to accept this ol'.'er. .';clent-ifi.c Informatl.on
comIng from trie program a, -vell as all other NASA
p-5
scientific endeavors will] be mnade ava.l lable to the world
ocilntif Ic commiin.ity, in con'c)imance wi h thc Amierican
conc ept; of co iluct nfg an "open ;p'ao e prorram.

Scienti t'ie direct ion Pfo th.,:; ,joinl. U.'I.--U.K. projes"t;

is- provi dod by Dr. Homer E'. ie [1, Director, Off lee of' Space
Sciences, NASA iHeadquarters, Washihngton, D. C., who repres;ent..
the United tates, an( lrofS';;or 'ir llarrie Massey, Chairmnan
of the BrIti-t li National Coiiunilttee on Space Resenrch, London,
who represent; the Uni ted Kingdom.

Each country ha:; an I pji Jec t manager,

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

,2.
 N.A.S.A. U. K.

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

GODDARD SPACE NASA GSFC - - - - IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF

FLIGHT CENTER PROJ. SCIENTISTCOLLEGE COLLEGE BIRMINGHAM

ASPECT ELEITRON
COSMIC RAY- E RDNST

r
SATELLI It TRACKING SATELLITE DATA VEHICLE 8UNi. OF
STRUCTURE & DATA INSTRUMEN- PROCES1NG LAUNCH LEICESTER
8 MECHANISMS ACQUISITION TATION- COORD.

|POWER
EI SOLAR IONS AND
SUPPI Y RIATION ELECTRONS

ENCODING |l||rE~TO4
5 & ATA q YMAI - LPHA| HTEMPERATUJREI
} STRAGEJ l | |& DE1NSITY
TELECTETRY

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

FRIME RESPONSIBILITIES INTERNATIONAL IONOSPHERE SATELLITE S-51

 3

United States responsibilities for the project are being

carried out by:

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, which provided

some 112 man years for the project. It was responsible
for the design, fabrication, and testing of the space-
craft structurc, power supply, telemetry, command
receL.ver, temperature control and data storage. Goddard's
Field Projects Branch provided necessary launch facilities
at the Atlantic Missile R-tnge.

NIASM's Langley PRc:;arch Center prov±ded a 62-foot

vacuum tet sphere for payload system test and checkout.

The United Kingdom responslbilities are being carried

out by:

Imperial College, London, which has a cosmic ray

experiment aboard and will make aircraft measurement3
of the inten:;tty of' , vnary co::mLc rayS.

University oP 131rr1fnlrh'iiai. nilcch ha, an (>1ectron

density experiment.

University College, London, which has the electron

tempcratiire, solar ultra-violet emission (Liyman-A].pha),
:;olar hard x-ray spectrum, lonosphere composition
xpoerilmcnts and the payload aspect, sensor.

Unlvs!rsity of' Lelcester, which is participating in

the, x-ray cXpcri mrnnt.

In General', the U. IC. had responsi7bility for the design,

fabrication, and testing of all f]lght oennsoro apd their
assocelated 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 subsystems

except tLh' experiment;, and for, launching the satellite I.nto
orblt. T1h10 U. S. performs tracking, data acquisition, and
data pcocess;il.ng at the Goddard S'pace Flight Conter. The
1 K . Will 1 ass i st 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 satellite
l.aiinchingrs. H1owever, S-51 represents a combined s',sault to
study the Or 1 on:,phe(i',(a'id I h" -,un's radiations at one time.

- 3S- (OVER)

L -- . ^.=,
 - )I;

Trhr. p!r.linary purpose of S-51's cosmic ray experiment -is

t, .Inv, ;;t:I.te time variations, of heavy nuclel. .ln the prImary
\ o.:rnl ( ;d,-ai '- )1, u;
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?
C Uo.. , T- J't( 1.Ct kn:x iJ
' .1 L' 'i1 ! .1 r : I.. ..
£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-? rockCet
flJ I it. Th, Lyinan-Alpha lino ot' hydrogen wa;, first detected
in -j932. 'l(nco that timo, there have beon several dozen
men :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, add i iltm)tl, th-. U. ' :' O'WILALi ii ;,Acar Ob;:e!w8 .ry

cux''~,. it .l'J .i.; loaki ntj, xllwaspumr-nnt.- I n thie ,x-va, gramm:i vi.y
and ulJtra-v:;olet portlon of the ;un's; 'i'ctrorflagnctuec
spectrilal.

'I -
 S-51 PROJECT PARTICIPANTS

The S-')1 project utilizes a management concept of a

join' United States-United Kingdom working group with
various ad hoc committees named as required.

The basic S-51 working group members are:

United Kingdom

University of Birmingham Electron Density

Professor J. Sayers Project Scientist

Imperial College, London Cosmic Ray

Dr. H. Ell-lot Project Scientist
Dr. J. J. Quenby Alternate

University of Leicester X-ray Experiment

Dr. K. A. Pounds Project Scientist

University College, London All other experiments

(electron temperature, solar
ultra-violet, x-ray, ionosphere
composition, payload aspect)
Dr. A. P. Willmore Project Scientist
Dr. R ..L. F. Boyd Alternate
Mr. M. 0. Robbins U. K. Project Manager
Dr. Dorlinfr U. K. Coordinator

United States

National Aeronautics & Space Administration

NASA Headquarters
Dr. J. E. Naugle Program Chief
Mr. M. J. Aucremanne Project Offcer

Goddard Spave Flight Center

Mr. R. C. Baumann Project Manager
Mr. Ri. E. Bourdeau Project Scientist
Mr. J. T. She:i Coordinator
Mr. II. J. Poalkt Telemetry Radio Frequency
Mr. R. W. RochelJe Telemetry Coding
Mr. P. T. Cole Data Storage
Mr. C. I,. Wagrner Mechanical Design
Mr. P. Yagerhof'er Power Supply
Mr. M. Schach Ihermal Design
Mr. W. Ilord Envlronmental Testing
Mr. J. Turklewlex Electrical Systems Integration
Mr. C. II. Looney TrackIng Systems
Mr. John H. Berberb Tracking Operations;
Mr. Albert G. Ferris Data Reducltion
Mr. Anthony Bulge Operations Control
-l)- (OVER)
 Atlantic Missiell Har-rie

r'r. C. P. Smith Vehicle Coordination

II . c
Coimi .'r ":i! C nIA - l;m"

'[a:;hi ngton Teicc hnolo-ical ''pacecrat, 't ietturc Manufactiure

A soe i ates
Chance Vought Astronautics Separation System, Hold Down and
release of appendages
Aerolab Development Corp. Do-.;pin Mechanism
Electro-Mechanical. Research 1.'ncodet' Fabricat1on
General Time Encoder Clock
Gulton Industries BatterIes
Spectrolab Xolar Paddles
British Contractors

McMichael Radio, Ltd. rc:;i.gned electronics and prouIced

har(ldare for Cosmic Ray Experiment
G. & E. Bradley Marfiuact;Lred storerst for electron
den:s i ty experiment
POth Centuiry Electronlco; Ilantfactured X-Ray Counters and
Lyman-Alpiia detectors
Pye, Ltd. Memory .;torers for electron
);pmeri ment and ma,:; spectrometer
13rl st.ol Aircratt, Ttd(. De ;igfned and inanul'actijred X--Ray
SvpoctromLeter; Designed and
wanilactitred EIIT grenerator

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has project manage-

ment responsblb 1itiecs for the S-'-] nproject.
The Royal(Iocleity, through the Br tiUshi National Committee
for1 Spacoe Rles.3ealch, has system management responsi biliti eos for
the S-')l experImennts systecn.
Goddard has system managemcnt responsibilities for the
;-JJl. spacecraft ,;y.stem.

roddard has system management rosponsibIlitIes for the

S-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.

I-, 6-
4
 -7-

EIGHT NATIONS COOPERATE IN TRACKING INTERNATIONAL SATELLITE

Besides the United States and E*ngland, six other countries

are participating in NASA's Minitrack Network which is trackIng
the world's first international spacecraft, the S-51.

The International ;:atellitc, which i5s expected to send

information back to earth for a year before its transmissions
are automatically term:inated, is t.o bc tracked by the following
stations:

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 Wi.nkflf eld, England.

T:ie Goddard 2pace Flight Center at Greenbelt, Maryland

which has sole rezponsibility for the Minltrack Network,
will rece:ive 8-51 telemetry tape;, edit and process them
Into digital magnetic tape:; and thene send them to the
United 1(ingdomr for analy;i.l, by the sclientlifi experlimenters.

The preliminary planned orbi-t of the '2-51 a.; computed

prior to ]aunch indicated that in.suifificlent Minitrack track-
.lng data would be obtained during the firs;t -12 hours of
operation to accurately define the satellite's orbit.

During it,, first 12 hours the 2- 51 will pass within range

of only two of.' the Minitrack's network Stations. Within the
next 12 hours, however, it Is expected to make 18 passes
close enough for stations to pick up its signals and to
determine whether the satellite i.,, in its expectpd orbIt
and whether lt: expcriments are functioning.

Therefore, confirmation of the satellite orbit and

Lnstrumentation performance will not be available until
about 011 hotrs aL'ter launch.

-7 - (OVER)
 lI

FACT SHEET ON DELTA

The Delta rocket vehicle used to launch S-51 has orbi.ted

seven NASA satellites in eight attempts. Echo I, Tiros II,
III and IV, Explorers X and XII, and OSO-1 (Orbiting Solar
Observatory). The Delta ha. these characteristics:
Height: 90 feet
Max. Diameter: 8 feet
Lift-off 'Wleight: Nearly 112,000 pounds
First Stage (Modified Douglas Thor):
Fuel: Liquid (LOX and kerosene)
Thrust: About 150,000 pounds
Burning Time: 160 seconds
Second stage (Aerojet General.):

Fniel: I, qu
1 di
Thrust: , 500 n'x:
Tlhout,
.I
Bu rn i ngr T n': '0( :s condls
Thirri .ft:,.r (A ! n,, 1-t 1B 1 ;tlcs. Laboratory X-218):

Fluel: Solid
Thrust: 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 stage
ignites immedi.ately. The nose fairing which covers the third
stage and payload is jetti.soned.
The second stage then burns out. The second and third
stages coast and yaw untiLl the peak of the ascent path is
reached and the vehicle .. aligned lwith its programmed
attitudeC. The tht rd stage splns un to approximately 160 rpm
and :Igni.tb,.
The second stage separates and reti o-rockets f'irc. The
third 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 by
releas ng the "^,tretch yo-yo" dc-sptn dev.1 cc.
 -9-

The experiment booms release and are erected, thereby

de-spinning the spacecraft again to approximately 47 rpm.
Third de-spin to 35 rpm occurs with the release and erection
of the inertia booms and solar paddles. The spacecraft
separates from the third stage at a differential velocity of
approximately seven feet per second.

-9 - (OVER)
 - 10

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

The basic conf'igruration of the S-51, which must fit the

shroud o' thhe Delta roc.ket's, spacecraft compartment, Is that
of a short,, fat cylinder 10-11i,/16 incrle:3 long and 23 inches
In dlametcr.

Each end of the cylinder has a spherical sect,.1on with an

inboard terminator circle 23 inches in diameter and a smaller
outboard terminator circle 8-7/16 inches in diameter. These
Spherical sections are 5-7/16 inches in diameter. These
spherilcal sect:tons are 5-1/4 inches 1'ng with an outer surface
radlo.; ot' 13-1./,e inchc:;. To this baslc confi.guration are
attached the var-.lous appendago,,s necessary to support and
conduct the spacecraft experimentls.

The spin axis of the satellite Is the central. axis of

the cylnder. This is also cons;idered as the vertical axis.
At the bottom of the spacecraft Is a 9-3/8 inch diameter
third stage separation flange. Here, an electron tempera-
tui'e gage and thc tape. recorder are installed.

out horizontally from about mildway tip the lower

IEh'-tonndiJ iq
spherical 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 from

the solar paddles. They are oppos2ite to and exactly counter-
balance each other, and extend radially In the :;ame horizontal
plane. The end of' once boom holds two ctrcu:lar condenser plates
of the electron density ,;ensor. ElectronIcs as,,:oclated with
this .:xperimen{. are housed In a 4-1/4lInch dLameter by 6-1i/4)
inch long cyli.nder mounted on the boom close to the spacecraft
hody. The end of the other boom holds a second electron
tcnmpev:LtturC gage, whosCe electronics are located inside the
spacecraft. A 3-1/2 Inch d:iaineter hemi.spher:tcal. solar aspect
sensor t:, located on the central cylinder section.

On top of the spacecraft in line with the spin ax-Is Is

a 5-inch diameter cylinder containing the cosmic ray Cercnkov
detector. Above this on a 4i-Inch long con:i.cal section tapering
from aL 3-inch to a 1-inch diameter is a 14-inch diameter Ion
mass s3phere.

-. 10-