![]() Explorer-6 satellite | |
Names | S-2 |
---|---|
Mission type | Earth science |
Operator | NASA |
Harvard designation | 1959-Delta 1 |
COSPAR ID | 1959-004A |
SATCAT no. | 00015 |
Mission duration | 60 days (achieved) |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Explorer VI |
Spacecraft type | Science Explorer |
Bus | S-2 |
Manufacturer | Jet Propulsion Laboratory TRW |
Launch mass | 64.4 kg (142 lb) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 7 August 1959, 14:24:20 GMT |
Rocket | Thor DM-18 Able III (Thor 134) |
Launch site | Cape Canaveral, LC-17A |
Contractor | Douglas Aircraft Company |
Entered service | 7 August 1959 |
End of mission | |
Last contact | 6 October 1959 |
Decay date | 1 July 1961 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit[1] |
Regime | Highly elliptical orbit |
Perigee altitude | 237 km (147 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 41,900 km (26,000 mi) |
Inclination | 47.0° |
Period | 754.0 minutes |
Instruments | |
Beacon Fluxgate Magnetometer Ion Chamber and Geiger–Müller Counter Micrometeorite Proportional Counter Telescope Scintillation Counter Search-Coil Magnetometer TV Optical Scanner VLF Receiver | |
Explorer 6, or S-2, was a NASA satellite, launched on 7 August 1959, at 14:24:20 GMT. It was a small, spherical satellite designed to study trapped radiation of various energies, galactic cosmic rays, geomagnetism, radio propagation in the upper atmosphere, and the flux of micrometeorites. It also tested a scanning device designed for photographing the Earth's cloud cover.[2] On 14 August 1959, Explorer 6 took the first photos of Earth from a satellite.[2][3][4]
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