Explorer 33
Encyclopedia
Explorer 33 was a spacecraft
launched by NASA
on July 1, 1966 on a mission of scientific exploration. Originally intended for a lunar orbit, mission controllers worried that the spacecraft's trajectory was too fast to guarantee lunar capture. Consequently, mission managers opted for a backup plan of placing the craft into an eccentric Earth orbit with a perigee of 265,679 km and an apogee of 480,762 km — still reaching distances beyond the Moon's orbit.
Despite not attaining the intended lunar orbit, the mission met many of its original goals in exploring solar wind
, interplanetary plasma, and solar X-rays. Principal investigator James Van Allen
used electron and proton detectors aboard the spacecraft to investigate charged particle and X-ray activity. Astrophysicists N. U. Crooker, Joan Feynman
, and J. T. Gosling used data from Explorer 33 to establish relationships between the Earth's magnetic field
and the solar wind speed near Earth.
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
launched by NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
on July 1, 1966 on a mission of scientific exploration. Originally intended for a lunar orbit, mission controllers worried that the spacecraft's trajectory was too fast to guarantee lunar capture. Consequently, mission managers opted for a backup plan of placing the craft into an eccentric Earth orbit with a perigee of 265,679 km and an apogee of 480,762 km — still reaching distances beyond the Moon's orbit.
Despite not attaining the intended lunar orbit, the mission met many of its original goals in exploring solar wind
Solar wind
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles ejected from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. It mostly consists of electrons and protons with energies usually between 1.5 and 10 keV. The stream of particles varies in temperature and speed over time...
, interplanetary plasma, and solar X-rays. Principal investigator James Van Allen
James Van Allen
James Alfred Van Allen was an American space scientist at the University of Iowa.The Van Allen radiation belts were named after him, following the 1958 satellite missions in which Van Allen had argued that a Geiger counter should be used to detect charged particles.- Life and career :* September...
used electron and proton detectors aboard the spacecraft to investigate charged particle and X-ray activity. Astrophysicists N. U. Crooker, Joan Feynman
Joan Feynman
Joan Feynman , the sister of Richard Feynman, is an astrophysicist who made original studies of the interactions between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere. While working at the NASA Ames Research Center in 1971, Feynman showed that coronal mass ejections could be identified by the...
, and J. T. Gosling used data from Explorer 33 to establish relationships between the Earth's magnetic field
Earth's magnetic field
Earth's magnetic field is the magnetic field that extends from the Earth's inner core to where it meets the solar wind, a stream of energetic particles emanating from the Sun...
and the solar wind speed near Earth.
External links
- AIMP-D Technical Summary Description
- Second Interim Flight Report - AIMP-I - Explorer XXXIII
- Observations of the earth's magnetic tail and neutral sheet at 510,000 km by Explorer 33 - 1966
- Observations of the earth's magnetic tail and neutral sheet at 510,000 km by Explorer 33 - 1967
- Mapping of the earth's bow shock and magnetic tail by Explorer 33
- Energetic particles in the outer magnetosphere - Explorer 33