Beyond_Earth-_A_Chronicle_of_Deep_Space_Exploration_1958-2016.pdf

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Lagrange Points

  • First spacecraft to orbit a libration point (L1 [Sun–Earth]): USA / ISEE-3 / 20 November 1978
  • First spacecraft to orbit libration point L2 (Sun–Earth): USA / WMAP / 1 October 2001
  • First spacecraft to orbit libration point L2 (Earth–Moon): USA / ARTEMIS P1 / 25 August 2010
  • First spacecraft to orbit libration point L1 (Earth–Moon): USA / ARTEMIS P2 / 22 October 2010

1 [Pioneer 0]

  • Nation: USA (1)
  • Objective(s): lunar orbit
  • Spacecraft: Able 1
  • Spacecraft Mass: 38.5 kg
  • Mission Design and Management: ARPA / AFBMD
  • Launch Vehicle: Thor Able 1 (Thor no. 127)
  • Launch Date and Time: 17 August 1958 / 12:18 UT
  • Launch Site: Cape Canaveral / Launch Complex 17A

Scientific Instruments:

  1. magnetometer
  2. micrometeoroid detector
  3. 2 temperature sensors
  4. TV camera

Results: On 27 March 1958, the U.S. Department of Defense announced the launch of four to five lunar probes later in the year, all under the supervision of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) as part of scientific investigations during the International Geophysical Year. Of these, one or two (later confirmed as two) would be carried out by the Army's Ballistic Missile Agency and the other three by the Air Force's Ballistic Missile Division. This launch was the first of three Air Force attempts, and the first attempted deep space launch by any country. The Able 1 spacecraft, a squat conical fiberglass structure built by Space Technology Laboratories (STL), carried a crude infrared TV scanner. The simple thermal radiation device carried a small parabolic mirror for focusing reflected light from the lunar surface onto a cell that would transmit voltage proportional to the light it received. Engineers painted a pattern of dark and light stripes on the spacecraft's outer surface to regulate internal temperature.

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The spacecraft was also disinfected with ultraviolet light prior to launch. The launch vehicle was a three-stage variant of the Thor intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) with elements appropriated from the Vanguard rocket used on its second and third stages. The entire project involved 3,000 people from 52 scientific and industrial firms, all but 6 of which were located in southern California. According to the ideal mission profile, Able 1 was designed to reach the Moon's vicinity 2.6 days after launch following which the TX-8-6 solid propellant motor would fire to insert the payload into orbit around the Moon. Orbital altitude would have been 29,000 kilometers with an optimal lifetime of about two weeks. The actual mission, however, lasted only 73.6 seconds, the Thor first stage having exploded at an altitude of 15.2 kilometers altitude. Telemetry was received from the payload for at least 123 seconds after the explosion, probably until impact in the Atlantic. Investigators concluded that the accident had been caused by a turbopump gearbox failure. The mission was not named at the time but has been retroactively known as "Pioneer 0."

2 [Luna, Ye-1 no. 1]

  • Nation: USSR (1)
  • Objective(s): lunar impact
  • Spacecraft: Ye-1 (no. 1)
  • Spacecraft Mass: c. 360 kg (including the power sources installed on the upper stage)
  • Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
  • Launch Vehicle: 8K72 (no. B1-3)
  • Launch Date and Time: 23 September 1958 / 07:03:23 UT
  • Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 1/5

Scientific Instruments:

Ye-1:

  1. flux-gate magnetometer
  2. sodium-iodide scintillation counter
  3. 2 gas discharge Geiger counters
  4. 2 micrometeorite counters
  5. Cherenkov detector
  6. 4 ion traps

Blok Ye (upper stage):

  1. sodium vapor experiment
  2. scintillation counter

Results: The Soviet government approved a modest plan for initial exploration of the Moon in March 1958. Engineers conceived of four initial probes, the Ye-1 (for lunar impact), Ye-2 (to photograph the farside of the Moon), Ye-3 (to photograph the farside of the Moon with advanced imaging equipment), and Ye-4 (lunar impact with a nuclear explosion). The Ye-1 was a simple probe, a pressurized spherical object made from aluminum-magnesium alloy slightly bigger than the first Sputnik. The goals were to detect the magnetic field of the Moon, study the intensity and variation of cosmic rays, record photons in cosmic rays, detect lunar radiation, study the distribution of heavy nuclei in primary cosmic radiation, study the gas component of interplanetary matter, study corpuscular solar radiation, and record the incidence of meteoric particles. The Blok Ye upper stage (with the 8D714 engine) carried additional instrumentation, including radio transmitters and one kilogram of sodium to create an artificial comet on the outbound trajectory that could be photographed from Earth. During the first Ye-1 launch, at T+87 seconds, the launch vehicle's strapon boosters began to develop longitudinal resonant vibrations. The rocket eventually disintegrated at T+93 seconds, destroying its payload. The problem was traced to violent pressure oscillations in the combustion chamber of one of the strapon booster engines. This generated a resonant frequency vibration throughout the frame causing it to shake violently. A fix was proposed by reducing the thrust at T+85 seconds when the rocket reached maximum dynamic pressure.

3 Able 2 [Pioneer]

  • Nation: USA (2)
  • Objective(s): lunar orbit
  • Spacecraft: Able 2
  • Spacecraft Mass: 38.3 kg
  • Mission Design and Management: NASA / AFBMD
  • Launch Vehicle: Thor Able I (Thor Able I no. 1 / Thor no. 130/DM-1812-6)
  • Launch Date and Time: 11 October 1958 / 08:42:13 UT
  • Launch Site: Cape Canaveral / Launch Complex 17A

Scientific Instruments:

  1. ion chamber
  2. magnetometer
  3. micrometeoroid detector
  4. TV camera
  5. 2 temperature sensors

Results: Although the USAF actually conducted the mission, this was the first U.S. space mission technically under the aegis of the recently formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The spacecraft was very similar in design to the Able 1 probe and like its predecessor, built by Space Technology Laboratories (STL). The probe was designed to record micrometeoroid impacts, take magnetic field and radiation measurements, and obtain a "facsimile image of the surface of the moon." During the launch, the Thor second stage shut down 10 seconds early due to incorrect information from an accelerometer measuring incremental velocity. The launch vehicle thus imparted insufficient velocity for the probe to escape Earth's gravity. An attempt to insert the spacecraft into high Earth orbit at 128,700 × 32,200 kilometers by using its Thiokol-built retromotor failed because internal temperatures had fallen too low for the batteries to provide adequate power. The probe did, however, reach an altitude of 114,750 kilometers (according to NASA information from February 1959) by 11:42 UT on launch day, verifying the existence of the Van Allen belts and returning other useful data on the boundary of the geomagnetic cavity. It reentered 43 hours 17 minutes after launch. Investigators later concluded that an accelerometer had mistakenly cut off the Able stage because of an incorrect setting of a valve. In a press release on October 11 soon after the launch, the U.S. Department of Defense officially bestowed the name "Pioneer" to the probe, although it has often been retroactively known as "Pioneer 1." The name was apparently suggested not by any NASA official but by one Stephen A. Saliga, an official in charge of Air Force exhibits at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, who designed a display to coincide with the launch.

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Thor-Able I with the Pioneer I spacecraft atop, prior to launch at Eastern Test Range at what is now Kennedy Space Center. Pioneer I, launched on 11 October 1958, was the first spacecraft launched by the 11-day-old National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Although the spacecraft failed to reach the Moon, it did transmit 43 hours of data. Credit: NASA

4 [Luna, Ye-1 no. 2]

  • Nation: USSR (2)
  • Objective(s): lunar impact
  • Spacecraft: Ye-1 (no. 2)
  • Spacecraft Mass: c. 360 kg (including power sources installed on the upper stage)
  • Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
  • Launch Vehicle: 8K72 (no. B1-4)
  • Launch Date and Time: 11 October 1958 / 21:41:58 UT
  • Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 1/5

Scientific Instruments:

Ye-1:

  1. flux-gate magnetometer
  2. sodium-iodide scintillation counter
  3. 2 gas discharge Geiger counters
  4. 2 micrometeorite counters
  5. Cherenkov detector
  6. 4 ion traps

Blok Ye (upper stage):

  1. sodium vapor experiment
  2. scintillation counter

Results: The second attempt to send a Ye-1 probe to impact on the Moon also never left Earth's atmosphere. The 8K72 launch vehicle exploded at T+104 seconds, once again, due to longitudinal resonant vibrations in the strapon boosters.

5 Pioneer II

  • Nation: USA (3)
  • Objective(s): lunar orbit
  • Spacecraft: Able 3
  • Spacecraft Mass: 39.6 kg
  • Mission Design and Management: NASA / AFBMD
  • Launch Vehicle: Thor Able I (Thor Able I no. 2 / Thor no. 129/DM-1812-6)
  • Launch Date and Time: 8 November 1958 / 07:30:20 UT
  • Launch Site: Cape Canaveral / Launch Complex 17A

Scientific Instruments:

  1. ionization chamber
  2. magnetometer
  3. temperature sensors
  4. micrometeoroid sensor
  5. proportional counter telescope
  6. TV system

Results: This was the second official NASA deep space launch although operations on the ground were handled by the Air Force. For this third launch of an STL-built lunar orbiter, engineers introduced a number of changes to the Thor Able launcher. The probe also now included a new TV scanner and a new type of battery, as well as a new cosmic ray telescope to study the Cherenkov Effect. Pioneer II, like its predecessors, never reached its target. A signal from the ground shut down the Thor launch vehicle's second stage earlier than planned. Additionally, when the X-248 third stage engine separated, it failed to fire. As a result, the probe burned up in Earth's atmosphere only 42 minutes 10 seconds after launch at 28.6° E longitude. During its brief mission, it reached an altitude of 1,530 kilometers (as announced in December 1959) and sent back data that suggested that Earth's equatorial region had higher flux and energy levels than previously thought. The information also indicated that micrometeoroid density was higher near Earth than in space. Investigators concluded that the third stage engine had failed to fire because of a broken wire. A NASA press release from Administrator T. Keith Glennan (1905–1995) soon after the launch officially named the probe "Pioneer II."

6 [Luna, Ye-1 no. 3]

  • Nation: USSR (3)
  • Objective(s): lunar impact
  • Spacecraft: Ye-1 (no. 3)
  • Spacecraft Mass: c. 360 kg (including power sources installed on the upper stage)
  • Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
  • Launch Vehicle: 8K72 (no. B1-5)
  • Launch Date and Time: 4 December 1958 / 18:18:44 UT
  • Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 1/5

Scientific Instruments:

Ye-1:

  1. flux-gate magnetometer
  2. sodium-iodide scintillation counter
  3. 2 gas discharge Geiger counters
  4. 2 micrometeorite counters
  5. Cherenkov detector
  6. 4 ion traps

Blok Ye (upper stage):

  1. sodium vapor experiment
  2. scintillation counter

Results: This was the third failure in a row in Soviet attempts to send a Ye-1 lunar impact probe to the Moon. The thrust level of the core engine (8D75) of the R-7 booster dropped abruptly at T+245.4 seconds to about 70% of optimal levels, leading to premature engine cutoff. The payload never reached escape velocity. Later investigation showed that a pressurized seal in the hydrogen peroxide pump of the main engine had lost integrity in vacuum conditions. The malfunction caused the main turbine to cease working and thus led to engine failure.

7 Pioneer III

  • Nation: USA (4)
  • Objective(s): lunar flyby
  • Spacecraft: Pioneer III
  • Spacecraft Mass: 5.87 kg
  • Mission Design and Management: NASA / ABMA / JPL
  • Launch Vehicle: Juno II (no. AM-11)
  • Launch Date and Time: 6 December 1958 / 05:44:52 UT
  • Launch Site: Cape Canaveral / Launch Complex 5

Scientific Instruments:

  1. photoelectric sensor trigger
  2. two Geiger-Mueller counters
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Pioneer III being assembled by technicians. Credit: NASA

Results: This was the first of two U.S. Army launches to the Moon, subsequent to three attempts by the Air Force. Pioneer III was a spin-stabilized probe (up to 400 rpm) whose primary goal was to fly by the Moon. Two special 6-gram weights were to be spun out on 1.5-meter wires to reduce spin to 6 rpm once the mission was under way. The spacecraft carried an optical sensor to test a future imaging system. If the sensor received a collimated beam of light from a source (such as the Moon) that was wide enough to pass through the lens and fall simultaneously on two photocells, then the sensor would send a signal to switch on the imaging system (which was actually not carried on this spacecraft). Unfortunately, the main booster engine shut down 4 seconds earlier than planned due to premature propellant depletion. Once put on its trajectory, it was determined that Pioneer III was about 1,030 km/hour short of escape velocity. It eventually reached a maximum altitude of 102,322 kilometers and subsequently plummeted and burned up over Africa 38 hours 6 minutes after launch. In addition, the de-spin mechanism failed to operate, preventing the test of the optical system. The radiation counters, however, returned important data. Dr. William H. Pickering (1910–2004), in a paper presented to an IGY Symposium on 29 December 1958, noted that "[w]hile the results of the launch were disappointing … the dividend of radiation measurements of the Van Allen belt gained as the payload returned to earth were of great value in defining this energy field." This data contributed to the major scientific discovery of dual bands of radiation around Earth.

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