Explorer 1

Hey everyone,

On February 1, 1958, the United States launched its first satellite into space. The satellite was designed and built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory headed by Wernher von Braun, and an Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) known as the Juno I was used for the rocket. The satellite only weighed 14kg and had an elliptical orbit around the of 114.8 minutes. At its closest point, it was 222 miles from Earth, and, at its furthest point, it was 1585 miles from Earth. Through this orbit,the satellite was the first to identify the Van Allen radiation belt, but this would not be confirmed until Explorer 3. Being so light, it could only carry a limited amount of instruments. The specific instrumentation carried by the craft included a Geiger-Muller tube to detect cosmic rays, five temperature sensors, an acoustic detector, and a wire grid detector to detect micrometeorite impacts. The Geiger-Muller tube would record the disparities that would lead to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt. Overall, the mission lasted for 111 days before the power fully ran out, and the mission was a success.