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Vanguard 1
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Vanguard 1 (international designation 1958 Beta) was the fourth artificial satellite launched, and is the oldest still orbiting Earth, though there is no longer any communication with it. As of March 2008, it remains the oldest piece of space junk still in orbit. It was also the first satellite to be solar powered. It was designed to test the launch capabilities of a three-stage launch vehicle as a part of Project Vanguard, and the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earth orbit.
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Encyclopedia
Vanguard 1 (international designation 1958 Beta) was the fourth artificial satellite launched, and is the oldest still orbiting Earth, though there is no longer any communication with it. As of March 2008, it remains the oldest piece of space junk still in orbit. It was also the first satellite to be solar powered. It was designed to test the launch capabilities of a three-stage launch vehicle as a part of Project Vanguard, and the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earth orbit. It also was used to obtain geodetic measurements through orbit analysis.
Spacecraft design
The spacecraft is a 1.47 kg (3.2 lb) aluminum sphere 6.4 inches (165 mm) in diameter. It contains a 10 mW, 108 MHz transmitter powered by a mercury battery and a 5 mW, 108.03 MHz transmitter that was powered by six solar cells mounted on the body of the satellite. Six short antennas protrude from the sphere. The transmitters were used primarily for engineering and tracking data, but were also used to determine the total electron content between the satellite and ground stations. Vanguard also carries two thermistors which measured the interior temperature over sixteen days in order to track the effectiveness of the thermal protection. A backup version of Vanguard 1 is on display at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.
Mission
The three stage launch vehicle placed Vanguard into a 654×3969 km (406×2466 mi.), 134.2 minute elliptical orbit inclined at 34.25 degrees on March 17, 1958. Original estimates had the orbit lasting for 2000 years, but it was discovered that solar radiation pressure and atmospheric drag during high levels of solar activity produced significant perturbations in the perigee height of the satellite, which caused a significant decrease in its expected lifetime to only about 240 years.
Mission results
Radio beacon
A 10 mW mercury battery powered transmitter on the 108 MHz band used for International Geophysical Year (IGY) scientific satellites, and a 5 mW, 108.03 MHz transmitter powered by six solar cells were used as part of a radio phase-comparison angle-tracking system. The tracking data was used to show that the shape of the Earth has a north-south asymmetry, occasionally described as pear-shaped with the stem at the North Pole. These radio signals were also used to determine the total electron content between the satellite and selected ground-receiving stations. The battery-powered transmitter provided internal package temperature for about sixteen days and sent tracking signals for twenty days. The solar cell powered transmitter operated for more than six years. Signals gradually weakened and were last received at Quito, Ecuador in May 1964 after which the spacecraft was optically tracked from Earth.
Satellite drag atmospheric density
Because of its symmetrical shape, Vanguard 1 was used by experimenters for use in determining upper atmospheric densities as a function of altitude, latitude, season, and solar activity. As the spacecraft continuously orbited, it would lag its predicted positions slightly, accumulating greater and greater delay due to drag of the residual atmosphere. By measuring the rate and timing of orbital shifts, together with the body's drag properties, the relevant atmosphere's parameters could be back-calculated. It was determined that atmospheric pressures, and thus drag and orbital decay, were higher than anticipated, as Earth's upper atmosphere tapered into space gradually.
This experiment was very much planned prior to launch. Initial Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) proposals for the project included conical satellite bodies; this eliminated the need for a separate fairing and ejection mechanisms, and their associated weight and failure modes. Radio tracking would gather data and establish a position. Early in the program, optical tracking (with a Baker-Nunn camera network and human spotters) was added. A panel of scientists proposed changing the design to spheres, at least twenty inches in diameter and hopefully thirty. A sphere would have a constant optical reflection, and constant coefficient of drag, based on size alone, while a cone would vary with orientation. James Van Allen proposed a cylinder, which eventually flew. NRL finally accepted a 6.4-inch sphere as a "test vehicle," with twenty inches for follow-on satellites. The weight savings, from reduced size as well as decreased instrumentation in the early satellites, was considered acceptable.
As the three Vanguards are still orbiting, with their drag properties essentially unchanged, they form a baseline atmospheric dataset fifty years old and counting.
Fiftieth anniversary
The Vanguard 1 satellite is the human-made artifact which has been in space the longest. On March 17, 2008 it logged its 50th year in Earth orbit.
A small group of former NRL and NASA workers has been in communication, and a number of government agencies have been asked to commemorate the event. The Naval Research Laboratory commemorated the event with a day-long meeting at NRL on March 17, 2008.
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