Ariel VI, known pre-launch as UK-6, was a British and American satellite launched in 1979 as part of the

Ariel programme Ariel was a British satellite research programme conducted between the early 1960s and 1980s. Six satellites were launched as part of the programme, starting with the first British satellite, Ariel 1, which was launched on 26 April 1962, and concl ...

. It was operated by the

Science Research Council The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) and its predecessor the Science Research Council (SRC) were the UK agencies in charge of publicly funded scientific and engineering research activities, including astronomy, biotechnology and bi ...

, which became the

Science and Engineering Research Council The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) and its predecessor the Science Research Council (SRC) were the UK agencies in charge of publicly funded scientific and engineering research activities, including astronomy, biotechnology and bi ...

in 1981. Ariel VI was used for

astronomical Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies ...

research and provided data until February 1982. It was the last Ariel satellite to be launched.

Satellite design

Operations

The spacecraft was manufactured by the

Marconi Company The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. Its roots were in the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 ...

, and had a mass of .

Sensors

The primary experiment, the cosmic ray detector, could sense heavy cosmic rays with an atomic number over 30. The diameter acrylic-lined aluminum sphere was filled with a gaseous oxygen, nitrogen, and helium mixture. Heavy cosmic rays penetrated the sphere and excited the gas to produce

scintillation Scintillation can refer to: *Scintillation (astronomy), atmospheric effects which influence astronomical observations *Interplanetary scintillation, fluctuations of radio waves caused by the solar wind *Scintillation (physics), a flash of light pro ...

light; the acrylic produced Cerenkov radiation. These ultraviolet emissions were detected with 16 photo-multipliers. Data processing to separate the two different types of ultraviolet emissions was performed by comparing the brightness and duration of the emissions. The amplitude of the signal was used to determine the atomic number of the cosmic ray. Unlike the X-ray experiments, this experiment had no pointing requirements other than what was required for thermal control. The two other experiments were X-ray telescopes. One detected low-energy X-rays and the other high-energy X-rays.

Mission

Launch

Scout D-1 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 t ...

carrier rocket ( SN S198C) was used to launch Ariel VI from Launch Area 3A at the

Wallops Flight Center Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) is a rocket launch site on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, United States, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and approximately north-northeast of Norfolk. The facility is operated by the Goddar ...

. The launch was successfully conducted at 23:26:00 UTC on 2 June 1979. Once the satellite achieved orbit it was renamed from UK-6 to Ariel 6.

Operations

Ariel 6 operated in a

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

, at an inclination of 55.0° and with an orbital period of 97.22 minutes as of 15 July 1979. The satellite provided data until February 1982. It decayed from orbit and reentered the atmosphere on 23 September 1990.

Results

Interference from

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

signals prevented the satellite from pointing correctly, and affected the data that it returned.

Notes

References

External links

Ariel VI Measurements of Ultra-Heavy Cosmic Ray Fluxes in the Region 34 ≤ Z ≤ 48
{{Orbital launches in 1979 1979 in spaceflight Space programme of the United Kingdom Satellites formerly orbiting Earth Spacecraft launched in 1979