Explorer 7

Explorer 7
Country:	United States
Operator:	NASA
COSPAR-ID :	1959-009A
Mission dates
Dimensions:	41.5 kg
Begin:	October 13, 1959
Starting place:	Cape Canaveral
Launcher:	Juno II
Flight duration:	2 years
Orbit data
Rotation time :	96.7 min
Orbit inclination :	50.3 °
Apogee height :	715 km
Perigee height :	499 km
Eccentricity :	0.015834

Explorer 7 (also known as S1-a ) is a satellite of the Explorer program of NASA . It was launched into orbit by a Juno II rocket from Cape Canaveral on October 13, 1959 . It was built to record solar radiation in the X-ray and Lyman-alpha range, as well as cosmic particle radiation . Further goals were to collect data on the discharge of micrometeorites , molecular sputtering and the heat exchange between the earth and its atmosphere . In particular, with the help of a radiometer developed by Verner E. Suomi and Robert Parent , he recorded the first data on the earth's energy balance and thus marked the beginning of satellite-based climate research . Suomi and his team used this data, among other things, to investigate the importance of clouds for the global climate .

The satellite transmitted data continuously until February 1961 and finally failed on August 24, 1961. It is still in orbit.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jonathan McDowell: Launch Log . In: Jonathan's Space Page . Retrieved December 17, 2013.
2. ↑ 50th Anniversary of Explorer 7 Launch . In: Space and Science Engineering Center . University of Wisconsin. Retrieved February 13, 2010.
3. ↑ HE Lagow and L. Secretan (1963) Results of micrometeorite penetration experiment on the Explorer VII Satellite (1959 IOTA) . NASA Tech. Note D-1722.
4. ^ US Space Objects Registry . Archived from the original on February 6, 2012. Retrieved November 29, 2011.