Saturday, February 11, 1984
Explorer 31
1965-098B
DME-A (Direct Measurements Explorer A), built by APL, was part of the ISIS-X (International Satellite for Ionospheric Studies) program, and was launched together with Alouette 2 on 1965 Nov 29 by a Thor Agena B from Vandenberg. DME-A was launched inside an adapter, below Alouette. Orbit of Explorer XXXI was 121.4 min, 505 x 2978 km x 79.8 deg. It operated until 1969 Jun 9. Explorer 31 was 98 kg, 0.9m dia, 0.64m high, with a 0.5m boom giving span of 1.2m.
Payload:
- Retarding Potential Analysers (Te,ne,Tion,nion)
- Energetic electron current monitor (GSFC/Donley) (high flux)
- Energetic electron current monitor (GSFC/Maier) (low flux)
- Electron wake studies
- Ion mass spectrometers
- A1 Thermal Ion Experiment (GSFC/Donley)
- B1 Thermal Electrons (GSFC/Donley)
- C1/C2 Electrostatic Probe (GSFC/Brace)
- E Electron Temperature (UCL/Willmore)
- F Spherical Ion Mass Spectrometer (UCL/Willmore)
- D High Resolution Ion Mass Spectrometer (NRL/Hoffman)
| DME-A | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 Nov 29 | 0448:47 | Launch by Thor Agena B | V 75-1-1 |
| 0451:16 | Thor MECO (T+2:29) | ||
| 0451:25 | Thor VECO (T+2:38) | ||
| 0451:32 | Thor sep (T+2:45) | ||
| 0451:56 | Agena burn (T+3:09) | ||
| T+3:20 Fairing sep | |||
| 0455:48 | Agena MECO (T+7:01) | -100? x 500 x 79.8 | |
| T+49:59 Agena MES-2 | |||
| 0538:58 | T+50:11 Agena MECO-2 | 121.40 500 x 2980 x 79.80 (VCR) | |
| 0543:23 | T+54:36 Alouette sep | ||
| 0544:04 | T+55:17 Adapter petals sep | ||
| 0544:31 | T+55:44 DME-A sep | 121.4 505 x 2978 x 79.8 | |
| 1969 Jun 9 | End of ops | ||
Thursday, February 9, 1984
Kosmos 140
1967-009A
The third test flight, 7K-OK No. 3, reached orbit safely and was named Kosmos-140. The orbit was lower than planned and the satellite couldn't turn its solar panels to the sun. After launch, an experiment began with a liquid helium cryostat. The cryostat temperature was reduced to 5.2 Kelvin. At around six hours after launch, the spacecraft was spun up to test the creation of artificial gravity; the cryostat warmed up at this point and three hours later the temperature was above sensor range.
Kosmos-140 remained in orbit for another day and a half; the spacecraft was commanded to return because of the failure to achieve solar orientation. Retrofire was successful on rev 33 and the orbital module and service module separated from the descent module, but during reentry the heatshield partially failed and the cabin depressurized. The spacecraft did survive reentry, but landed on the ice-covered Aral Sea. Five hours after landing, according to Kamanin's diaries, it sank because of the small hole in the heat shield. It was recovered after 48 hr.
| Kosmos-140 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 Feb 7 | 0320:00 | Launch by Soyuz 11A511 | KB |
| 0325 | Blok-I burn | ||
| 0329 | Blok-I cutoff, orbit insertion | ||
| 0329 | Blok-I sep | 157 x 229 x 51.69 | |
| 0700? | He cryostat down to 5.2K | ||
| 0930? | Rev 5 orbit raise | ||
| 0930? | Spacecraft spinup | 171 x 235 x 51.68 | |
| 1230? | Cryostat field off | ||
| 1967 Feb 8 | 0930? | 166 x 218 x 51.65 | |
| 1200? | 58s KTDU-35 burn | 220 x 310 x 51.7 | |
| 1967 Feb 9 | 0215? | Retrofire | |
| 0230? | PAO, BO sep | ||
| 0236? | Reentry, partial heatshield failure | ||
| 0253 | Landed in Aral Sea | ||
Monday, February 6, 1984
Kosmos 863
1976-106A
| Kosmos-863 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 Oct 25 | 1430 | Launch by Soyuz-U | Plesetsk |
| 1434 | Blok-I burn | ||
| 1438 | Blok-I sep | ||
| 1976 Oct 26 | 89.75 177 x 346 x 62.8 | ||
| 1976 Oct 29 | 89.41 169 x 320 x 62.8 | ||
| 1976 Nov 2 | 89.25 166 x 307 x 62.8 | ||
| 1976 Nov 3 | 89.53 166 x 335 x 62.8 | ||
| 1976 Nov 5 | |||
| 0624? | Deorbit | ||
| 0634? | PO sep | ||
| 0638? | Entry | ||
| 0655? | Landed | ||