Ariel 1 (also known as UK-1 and S-55), was the first British

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

, and the first satellite in 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 ...

. Its launch in 1962 made the United Kingdom the third country to operate a satellite, after the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and the United States. It was constructed in the UK and the United States by

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...

and SERC, under an agreement reached as the result of political discussions in 1959 and 1960. The US

Starfish Prime Starfish Prime was a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States, a joint effort of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Defense Atomic Support Agency. It was launched from Johnston Atoll on July 9, 1962, and was the larges ...

exoatmospheric nuclear test affected Ariel 1's operational capability.

Development

In late 1959, the

British National Committee for Space Research The British National Committee for Space Research (BNCSR) was a Royal Society committee formed in December 1958. It was formed primarily to be Britain's interface with the newly formed Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). History In October ...

proposed the development of Ariel 1 to NASA. By early the following year the two countries had decided upon terms for the

's scope and which organisations would be responsible for which parts of the programme. The UK Minister of Science named the satellite after the sprite in Shakespeare's ''The Tempest''. Three units were constructed: one for prototyping, a flight unit, and a backup.

Design

Operation

The satellite weighed , had a diameter of , and a height of . Solar panels generated power which was stored in nickel-cadmium batteries. A 100-minute tape recorder was used for data collection.

Sensors

SERC provided the experiments, conducted operations, and later analysed and interpreted the results. Six experiments were carried aboard the satellite. Five of these examined the relationship between two types of

solar radiation Solar irradiance is the power per unit area (surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre (W/m ...

and changes in the Earth's

ionosphere The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an ...

. They were selected to leverage techniques developed in the

Skylark ''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two additional species are ...

programme.

Mission

Launch

Ariel 1 was planned to launch on the

Scout rocket 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 rocket, solid fuel stages. ...

, but the rocket fell behind in development. The decision was made to launch the satellite on the more expensive

Thor-Delta The Thor-Delta, also known as Delta DM-19 or just Delta was an early American expendable launch system used for 12 orbital launches in the early 1960s. A derivative of the Thor-Able, it was a member of the Thor family of rockets, and the first ...

rocket, although the Americans footed the bill. Ariel 1, the first satellite from a nation besides the United States or the Soviet Union, was launched aboard an American Thor-Delta rocket from Launch Complex 17A at the

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the statio ...

, at 18:00:00 GMT on 26 April 1962. The successful orbit made Ariel 1 the first international satellite.

Operations

Ariel 1 was among several satellites inadvertently damaged or destroyed by the

high-altitude nuclear test on July 9, 1962, and subsequent radiation belt. Its solar panels sustained damage from the irradiation, affecting Ariel 1's operations. The satellite operated even after the nuclear test. The radiation disabled the timer that would have deactivated the satellite after one year, effectively extending the satellite's life. It decayed from orbit on 24 May 1976.

Results

The experiments provided X-ray energy data from over 20 solar flares.

Notes

References

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External links

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The Cold War nuke that fried satellites
(BBC)
The Ariel 1 SatelliteFirst International SatelliteElectronic Integration of the UK-1 International Ionsphere SatelliteSpecial issue: 50 years of the UK in spaceTHE ROYAL SOCIETY’S FORMATIVE ROLE IN UK SPACE RESEARCHThe Ariel 1 Satellite
{{Use dmy dates, date=January 2014 Spacecraft launched in 1962 United Kingdom–United States relations Satellites formerly orbiting Earth First artificial satellites of a country Satellites of the United Kingdom