Photographs, film footage,
and satellite model available
Vanguard I, the world's longest
orbiting man made satellite, built by the Naval Research Laboratory
(NRL) and launched at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 1958, will
mark its 40th year in space on March 17. In the years following
Vanguard's launch, the small satellite has made more than 158,061
revolutions of the earth and travelled over 4.59 billion nautical
miles.
The first solar-powered satellite,
Vanguard I was the second artificial satellite successfully placed
in earth orbit by the United States. (Vanguard predecessors,
Sputniks I and II and Explorer I have long since fallen out of
orbit.) Just six inches in diameter and weighing just 3 pounds,
Vanguard was described by then-Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
as "the grapefruit satellite."
As part of the scientific program
for the International Geophysical Year (1957-58), NRL was officially
delegated the responsibility of placing an artificial satellite
with a scientific experiment into orbit around the earth. Designated
Project Vanguard, the program was placed under Navy management
and DoD monitorship.
NRL was responsible for developing
the launch vehicles; developing and installing the satellite
tracking system; and designing, constructing and testing the
satellites. The tracking system was called Minitrack. The Minitrack
stations, designed, built and initially operated by NRL, were
along a North South line running along the east coast of North
America and the west coast of South America. Minitrack was the
forerunner of another NRL-developed system called NAVSPASUR,
which is operational today and a major producer of spacecraft
tracking data.
In late 1958, responsibility
for Project Vanguard was transferred to NASA, forming the nucleus
of the Goddard Space Flight Center. After the transfer, NRL rebuilt
their spacecraft technology capability and have developed some
87 satellites over the past 40 years for the Navy, DoD and NASA.
NRL's relationship with NASA is still very active; for example,
NRL is currently developing the Interim Control Module for NASA's
International Space Station.
Vanguard met 100 percent of its
scientific objectives, providing a wealth of information on the
size and shape of the earth, air density, temperature ranges
and micrometeorite impact. It proved that the earth is pear-shaped,
not round; corrected ideas about the atmosphere's density at
high altitudes and improved the accuracy of world maps.
NRL space scientists say that
the Vanguard I program introduced much of the technology that
has since been applied in later U.S. satellite programs, from
rocket launching to satellite tracking. For example, it proved
that solar cells could be used for several years to power radio
transmitters. Vanguard's solar cells operated for about seven
years, while conventional batteries used to power another onboard
transmitter lasted only 20 days.
Although Vanguard's solar-powered
"voice" became silent in 1964, it continues to serve
the scientific community. Ground-based tracking of the satellite
provides data concerning the effects of the sun, moon and atmosphere
on satellite orbits.
Vanguard will be prominently
featured at NRL's 75th Anniversary celebration to be held the
week of June 17, 1998.
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory is the Navy's full-spectrum corporate laboratory, conducting a broadly based multidisciplinary program of scientific research and advanced technological development. The Laboratory, with a total complement of nearly 2,500 personnel, is located in southwest Washington, D.C., with other major sites at the Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Monterey, Calif. NRL has served the Navy and the nation for over 85 years and continues to meet the complex technological challenges of today's world. For more information, visit the NRL homepage or join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
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