Catawba – Rhododendron catawbiense

by | Dec 19, 2023 | Rhododendron

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Explorer-1 [Prime], also known as E1P and Electra,[1] was a CubeSat-class picosatellite built by the Space Science and Engineering Laboratory (SSEL)[2] at Montana State University. It was launched aboard a Taurus-XL rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on 4 March 2011,[3] but failed to achieve orbit after the rocket malfunctioned.

As part of NASA's ELaNA[4] program, E1P was to be launched along with NASA's Glory satellite,[5] the Kentucky Space KySat-1 and the University of Colorado Boulder Hermes CubeSats.[6]

E1P was a re-flight mission of Explorer 1, the first American satellite, using modern technology including a Geiger tube donated by James Van Allen. The name of the satellite was also adopted from Van Allen, who referred to the satellite as Explorer-1 Prime prior to his death in 2006.

It was originally intended to be launched in 2008 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the launch of Explorer 1. If it had been successful, E1P would have been Montana's first successful launch of a satellite after the loss of SSEL's MEROPE[7] in 2006.[1]

There was a spare, Explorer-1 Prime Unit 2,[8] that was launched with NPP.[9]

The Michigan Exploration Laboratory (MXL) suspects that the M-Cubed CubeSat, a joint project run by MXL and JPL, became magnetically conjoined to Explorer-1 Prime Unit 2, a second CubeSat released at the same time, via strong onboard magnets used for passive attitude control (see: Magnetorquer), after deploying on October 28, 2011. This is the first non-destructive latching of two satellites.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Byers, Celena. "Explorer-1 Prime: A Re-flight of the Explorer-1 Science Mission" (PDF). Montana State University. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  2. ^ Space Science and Engineering Laboratory (SSEL). "Explorer-1 PRIME". Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  3. ^ Schwartz, Patrick C. "Launches". Mission Set Database. NASA GSFC. Archived from the original on 20 March 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2024. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. ^ Trinidad, Katherine (26 January 2010). "NASA Cues Up University CubeSats for Glory Launch This Fall". NASA. Archived from the original on 7 July 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2024. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. ^ Krebs, Gunter D. (14 January 2023). "Glory". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  6. ^ Jacobs, Danny (26 September 2008). "We get press-release". Montana State University. Archived from the original on 5 April 2010. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  7. ^ Hiscock, Bill (27 July 2006). "Crash of Russian rocket destroys Montana's first satellite". Montana State University. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  8. ^ "AMSAT". Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  9. ^ "E1P's First Day!!! | Explorer-1 Prime". Archived from the original on 9 November 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  10. ^ "MCubed-2". National Space Flight Data Center. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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