Transit Research and Attitude Control

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Transit Research and Attitude Control (TRAAC)
TRAAC (330-PSA-262-61, USN 710980, 21836863865) (cropped).jpg
Artist's impression of TRAAC in orbit
Mission typeTechnology
Operator United States Navy
Harvard designation1961 Alpha Eta 2
COSPAR ID 1961-031B OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
SATCAT no. 205
Mission duration270 days
Spacecraft properties
Launch mass109 kilograms (240 lb)
Start of mission
Launch dateNovember 15, 1961, 22:26 (1961-11-15UTC22:26Z) UTC
Rocket Thor DM-21 Ablestar
Launch site Cape Canaveral LC-17B
End of mission
Last contactAugust 12, 1962 (1962-08-13)
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Semi-major axis 7,405.20 kilometers (4,601.38 mi)
Eccentricity 0.0102037
Perigee altitude 958 kilometers (595 mi)
Apogee altitude 1,109 kilometers (689 mi)
Inclination 32.44 degrees
Period 105.8 minutes
Epoch February 7, 2014, 04:46:58 UTC [1]

The Transit Research and Attitude Control (TRAAC) satellite was launched by the U. S. Navy from Cape Canaveral along with Transit 4B on November 15, 1961.

Contents

Drawing of Transit 4B and TRAAC satellite in orbit. HD.6D.462 (10947384003).jpg
Drawing of Transit 4B and TRAAC satellite in orbit.

Mission

The 109 kg satellite was used to test the feasibility of using gravity-gradient stabilization in Transit navigational satellites. [2] It provided information on the effects of radiation from nuclear explosions in space, as it was one of several satellites whose detectors provided data for the Starfish Prime test; ultimately its solar cells were damaged by the radiation and it ceased operation. [3] It was among several satellites which were inadvertently damaged or destroyed by the Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test on July 9, 1962 and subsequent radiation belt. It is expected to orbit for 800 years at an altitude of about 950 kilometers (590 mi).

Poem

The first poem to be launched into orbit about the Earth was inscribed on the instrument panel of TRAAC. Entitled Space Prober and written by Prof. Thomas G. Bergin of Yale University, it reads in part:

And now 'tis man who dares assault the sky...
And as we come to claim our promised place, aim only to repay the good you gave,
And warm with human love the chill of space. [4]

Related Research Articles

A nuclear electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation created by a nuclear explosion. The resulting rapidly varying electric and magnetic fields may couple with electrical and electronic systems to produce damaging current and voltage surges. The specific characteristics of a particular nuclear EMP event vary according to a number of factors, the most important of which is the altitude of the detonation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Low Earth orbit</span> Orbit around Earth between 160 and 2000 km

A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, peaking in number at an altitude around 800 km (500 mi), while the farthest in LEO, before medium Earth orbit (MEO), have an altitude more than about one-third of the radius of Earth, roughly at the beginning of the inner Van Allen radiation belt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transit (satellite)</span> Satellite navigation system

The Transit system, also known as NAVSAT or NNSS, was the first satellite navigation system to be used operationally. The radio navigation system was primarily used by the U.S. Navy to provide accurate location information to its Polaris ballistic missile submarines, and it was also used as a navigation system by the Navy's surface ships, as well as for hydrographic survey and geodetic surveying. Transit provided continuous navigation satellite service from 1964, initially for Polaris submarines and later for civilian use as well. In the Project DAMP Program, the missile tracking ship USAS American Mariner also used data from the satellite for precise ship's location information prior to positioning its tracking radars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Explorer 4</span> Satellite launched by the United States (1958)

Explorer 4 was an American satellite launched on 26 July 1958. It was instrumented by Dr. James van Allen's group. The Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) had initially planned two satellites for the purposes of studying the Van Allen radiation belts and the effects of nuclear explosions upon these belts, however Explorer 4 was the only such satellite launched as the other, Explorer 5, suffered launch failure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Argus</span> Series of 1950s US nuclear tests

Operation Argus was a series of United States low-yield, high-altitude nuclear weapons tests and missile tests secretly conducted from 27 August to 9 September 1958 over the South Atlantic Ocean. The tests were performed by the Defense Nuclear Agency.

<i>Alouette 1</i> First Canadian satellite

Alouette 1 is a deactivated Canadian satellite that studied the ionosphere. Launched in 1962, it was Canada's first satellite, and the first satellite constructed by a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States. Canada was the fourth country to operate a satellite, as the British Ariel 1, constructed in the United States by NASA, preceded Alouette 1 by five months. The name "Alouette" came from the French for "skylark" and the French-Canadian folk song of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project Orion (nuclear propulsion)</span> Discontinued US research program on the viability of nuclear pulse propulsion

Project Orion was a study conducted in the 1950s and 1960s by the United States Air Force, DARPA, and NASA into the viability of a nuclear pulse spaceship that would be directly propelled by a series of atomic explosions behind the craft. Early versions of the vehicle were proposed to take off from the ground; later versions were presented for use only in space. The design effort took place at General Atomics in San Diego, and supporters included Wernher von Braun, who issued a white paper advocating the idea. Non-nuclear tests were conducted with models, but the project was eventually abandoned for several reasons, including the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty, which banned nuclear explosions in space, amid concerns over nuclear fallout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telstar 1</span> Defunct Communications Satellite

Telstar 1 is a defunct communications satellite launched by NASA on July 10, 1962. It was the satellite that allowed the first live broadcast of television images between the United States and Europe. Telstar 1 remained active for only 7 months before it prematurely failed due to Starfish Prime, a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States. Although the satellite is no longer operational, it remains in Earth orbit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scout (rocket family)</span> Family of American rockets

The Scout family of rockets were American launch vehicles designed to place small satellites into orbit around the Earth. The Scout multistage rocket was the first orbital launch vehicle to be entirely composed of solid fuel stages. It was also the only vehicle of that type until the successful launch of the Japanese Lambda 4S in 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Starfish Prime</span> 1962 high-altitude nuclear test by the U.S. over the Pacific Ocean

Starfish Prime was a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States, a joint effort of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Defense Atomic Support Agency. It was launched from Johnston Atoll on July 9, 1962, and was the largest nuclear test conducted in outer space, and one of five conducted by the US in space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Militarisation of space</span> Use of outer space for military aims

The militarisation of space involves the placement and development of weaponry and military technology in outer space. The early exploration of space in the mid-20th century had, in part, a military motivation, as the United States and the Soviet Union used it as an opportunity to demonstrate ballistic-missile technology and other technologies having the potential for military application. Outer space has since been used as an operating location for military spacecraft such as imaging and communications satellites, and some ballistic missiles pass through outer space during their flight. As of 2018, known deployments of weapons stationed in space include only the Almaz space-station armament and pistols such as the TP-82 Cosmonaut survival pistol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Fishbowl</span> Series of 1960s US high-altitude nuclear tests

Operation Fishbowl was a series of high-altitude nuclear tests in 1962 that were carried out by the United States as a part of the larger Operation Dominic nuclear test program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High-altitude nuclear explosion</span> Nuclear detonations in the upper layers of Earths atmosphere

High-altitude nuclear explosions are the result of nuclear weapons testing within the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere and in outer space. Several such tests were performed at high altitudes by the United States and the Soviet Union between 1958 and 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Program 437</span> Anti-satellite weapons program of the U.S. military

Program 437 was the second anti-satellite weapons program of the U.S. military. The US anti-satellite weapons program began development in the early 1960s and was officially discontinued on 1 April 1975. Program 437 was approved for development by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara on November 20, 1962, after a series of tests involving high altitude nuclear explosions. The program's facilities were located on Johnston Island, an isolated island in the north central Pacific Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Injun (satellite)</span>

The Injun program was a series of six satellites designed and built by researchers at the University of Iowa to observe various radiation and magnetic phenomena in the ionosphere and beyond.

Kosmos 5, also known as 2MS #2 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 15 was a scientific research and technology demonstration satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1962. It was the fifth satellite to be designated under the Kosmos system, and the third spacecraft to be launched as part of the MS programme, after Kosmos 2 and Kosmos 3. Its primary missions were to develop systems for future satellites, and to record data about artificial radiation around the Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ariel 1</span> First British satellite

Ariel 1, was the first British-American satellite, and the first satellite in the Ariel programme. Its launch in 1962 made the United Kingdom the third country to operate a satellite, after the Soviet Union and the United States. It was constructed in the UK and the United States by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and SERC, under an agreement reached as the result of political discussions in 1959 and 1960. The US Starfish Prime exoatmospheric nuclear test affected Ariel 1's operational capability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vostok 3 and 4</span> 1962 Soviet manned spaceflights into low Earth orbit

Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 were Soviet space program flights in August 1962, intended to determine the ability of the human body to function in conditions of weightlessness, test the ground control capability to launch and manage two separate, concurrent flights, and test the endurance of the Vostok 3KA spacecraft over longer flights. Cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev orbited the Earth 64 times in Vostok 3 over nearly four days in space, August 11–15, 1962, a feat which would not be matched by NASA until the Gemini program (1965–1966). Pavel Popovich was launched on Vostok 4 on August 12, and made 48 Earth orbits. The two capsules were launched on trajectories that brought the spacecraft within approximately 6.5 km (4.0 mi) of each another.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STARAD</span> United States radiation-monitoring satellite


STARAD was a radiation-monitoring satellite used to track the artificial radiation belt created by the Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test.

References

  1. "TRAAC Satellite details 1961-031B NORAD 205". N2YO. February 7, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  2. "TRAAC". Gunter's Space Pages. Retrieved October 7, 2007.
  3. Hess, Wilmot N. (September 1964). "The Effects of High Altitude Explosions" (PDF). National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA TN D-2402. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
  4. "Space Quotes". Space Educator's Handbook. NASA. Archived from the original on December 13, 2012. Retrieved October 7, 2007.