Dial
| Dial | |
|---|---|
| Country: |
 Germany
|
| Operator: | DFVLR |
| COSPAR-ID : | 1970-017A |
| Mission dates | |
| Dimensions: | 63 kg |
| Begin: | March 10, 1970, 12:20 UTC |
| Starting place: | CSG |
| Launcher: | Diamond B |
| Status: | burned up on October 5, 1978 |
| Orbit data | |
| Rotation time : | 104.2 min |
| Orbit inclination : | 5.4 ° |
| Apogee height : | 1631 km |
| Perigee height : | 301 km |
Dial ( Di amant Al lemagne ; German " Deutscher Diamant ") is the name of the second German satellite . The additional name Wika stood for Scientific Capsule . Dial resulted from a cooperation between CNES and what was then DFVLR . The aim was to provide a payload for the first launch of the Diamond B rocket . Dial was allowed to weigh a maximum of 50 kg and had to share the payload capacity of 115 kg with a French research satellite. The tender for the satellite won the company Junkers. The special thing about Dial was the short preparation time that was available. In January 1969, the agreement between DFVLR and CNES was signed.
Just 13 months after the agreement between CNES and BMFT , Dial was launched on March 10, 1970 from the Center Spatial Guyanais test site in Kourou , French Guiana . The orbit was initially 301 km near the earth and 1631 km away from the earth. The orbit inclination was 5.4 °.
The Diamant had priority in terms of launch date, runway and payload. Dial was a very simple satellite because you only had one year to build. The aim of the four experiments was to measure several parameters of the high atmosphere in the equatorial region. The experiments did not require any special orientation in orbit . The 50 kg satellite was designed for 25 to 28 days of work and worked 71 days until the batteries were then exhausted. The case was octagonal and carried solar cells . They provided additional power to support the silver-zinc battery. The 90 Ah battery with 19 cells was the primary energy supply, the 222 solar cells a supplement. The experiments were under construction. The main task was to measure the electron density and the magnetic field . 10 kg of the starting mass was accounted for by four experiments by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching , the Institute for Nuclear Physics at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, and the Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology at the TU Braunschweig .
Dial had a height of 115 cm, a maximum outer diameter of 71 cm with antennas 30 cm in length. It sent the data to earth at 136.56 MHz at 1920 bit / sec and a transmission power of 0.5 watts .
See also
- Azur , the first German research satellite
Individual evidence
- ↑ DIAL / WIKA in the NSSDCA Master Catalog , accessed on March 16, 2012 (English).
- ↑ DIAL / WIKA Description. In: NSSDC Master Catalog. NSSDC, accessed March 16, 2012 .
Web links
- DIAL WIKA in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
- Gunter's Space Page: Dial-Wika (English)