Ariel (satellite)

Ariel was a series of British measurement satellites that were launched into orbit in the 1960s and 1970s with US Thor Delta and Scout rockets.

Ariel 1 was the first satellite to be realized in the USA with the participation of a foreign nation . Great Britain supplied the experiments for this project, while NASA was responsible for building the satellite and the launcher. Ariel 3 was then the first satellite constructed entirely in Great Britain, only the launch vehicle had to be provided by NASA.

List of satellites

Surname	NSSCD ID	Start date ( UTC )	Launch site	Launcher	Remarks
Ariel 1	1962 ο 1	April 26, 1962, 6:00 p.m.	Cape Canaveral , LC-17A	Thor - Delta	Investigation of the ionosphere , solar and cosmic rays. Was the US-altitude nuclear test Prime Starfish inoperable
Ariel 2	1964-015A	March 27, 1964, 5:25 pm	Wallops Flight Facility	Scout X3	Measurement of galactic radio emissions, the vertical ozone distribution and registration of micrometeorites
Ariel 3	1967-042A	May 5, 1967, 4:00 p.m.	Vandenberg AFB SLC-5	Scout A	Investigation of the thermosphere , the radio noise from thunderstorms and from the Milky Way
Ariel 4	1971-109A	December 11, 1971, 20:47	Vandenberg AFB SLC-5	Scout B1	Investigation of the ionosphere
Ariel 5	1974-077A	October 15, 1974, 7:47 am	San Marco platform	Scout B1	Search for X-ray sources
Ariel 6	1979-047A	June 2, 1979, 11:26 pm	Wallops Flight Facility	Scout D1	Astronomical research