50 YA: Discoverer I & Pioneer IV

This entry covers two satellite launches from Fifty Years Ago. On February 28, 1959, the Air Force launched Discoverer I into a polar orbit on a Thor-Agena A booster from the Pacific Missile Range. Evidently there was trouble tracking the 1,450 pound satellite. Well, it was the early days, after all.

Then on March 1, 1959, Pioneer IV was launched on a Juno II rocket into a solar orbit. A NASA directed project, this satellite had an interesting path to orbit- they launched it on a trajectory so that it actually passed within 37,000 miles of the moon before reaching orbit around the sun. They managed to keep in radio contact out to some 406,000 miles away. It was the first US Satellite to orbit the sun. This satellite was the fourth in the series of projects for the International Geophysical Year series. The picture above is shows how Pioneer 3 and 4 looked.

More Debris added to Earth Orbit

It had to happen, sooner or later.

Last week recorded the first major incidence of two satellites accidentally merging their orbits to self-destruction.  U.S. communications satellite Iridium 33 and Russian communications satellite Kosmos 2251 destroyed each other in the collision. The Russian craft, originally launched in 1993, had stopped working a couple of years after it reached orbit. The question on many space nuts minds at this time, is whether or not the Kosmos craft was "out of control" at the time. 

Russia has had no comment.

NASA is now reporting that the US Space Surveillance Network estimates the debris cloud at about 500 pieces, racing along at an altitude of about 485 miles up. The ISS space station is at a lower altitude, about 190 miles, so the debris does not pose a huge risk to the astronauts and cosmonauts yet.  However, Earth observer satellites are up at that altitude and could encounter some risk. The Hubble Space Telescope, at about 350 miles up, may be in risk depending on how the debris cloud expands.

I can't help but wonder if the Iridium Corporation (which has over 60 of the Iridium satellites in its network) will be suing the Russians. I would!

50 YA: Titan I Test Launch

The Titan series of rockets is one of my favorites - and today marks the 50th anniversary of the first test launch of a prototype Titan ICBM, called the A3, from the Cape Canaveral station. Of course, by 1959, ICBM development was in full swing as the nation tried to create superior launch missiles against the Soviet Union and their successful heavy launch rockets. Eventually, the Titan series would develop into a wonderful satellite launcher and the propulsion for the Gemini spacecraft- but that was in the future.

I couldn't find a photograph of the actual launch of the A3, but it would have looked very similar to the Titan I in the above picture. To find a good overall history of Titan I development, just look up Titan I on Wikipedia. If anyone finds some other cool resources on the web, let me know!

For my younger readers from the Space Center, "ICBM" stands for InterContinental Ballistic Missile, those big heavy lift rockets that would launch one or more nuclear bombs to the other side of the planet. When I was very young, people were terrified by the thought that the world could experience a nuclear war. Fortunately, we didn't. Yet.

NASA Remembrance Day

Today NASA took time off to remember the fallen astronauts of Apollo 11, Shuttle Challenger, and Shuttle Columbia.  There are links to a video commemorating the events on the NASA site at www.nasa.gov.  I don't have much time today to blog on it, so I'll be taking some time next week to write about each accident.

Fireball over New England

SpaceWeather.com reported a meteoric fireball observed over the Massachusetts Turnpike region on January 23rd.  Witnesses record the time about 8:48 pm Eastern, with blue and green colors being observed. 

Of course, here at the Bunker I'm glad there were no casualties. It appears this was yet another attempt by Interstellar aliens to try to hit Earth with their weapons of mass concretion.  Again, they seemed to have underestimated the size of mass necessary to penetrate Earth's defensive atmospheric shields.

There have been other reports or fireballs this week. It seems Norway and Sweden were targets on the 17th. And, mysteriously, it seems there was a previous fireball seen over New England last December 29th. Coincidence? I think not.    ; )

50 YA: SNAP 3

A significant milestone occurred 50 years ago: SNAP 3 was shown to President Eisenhower. It was a little 5-watt thermoelectric generator that used the energy delivered by radioactive isotopes. It was demonstrated as how to provide long-term electric power for space probes in the future. Of course, this then was the ancestor of the nuclear power generators used to power our deep space probes which cannot rely on weak solar power so far from the inner section of the Solar system.

Command Bunker Survives Biological Attack

Back in October I made sure to get my seasonal flu shot.  What I forgot was that flu shots don't do a darned thing about head colds.  That sneaky, recurrent viral invader got me over the last 10 days, and I tell ya, nothing defeats blogging like a virus.  I had no desire to do any work on the computer at all, which is tough considering that's how I make a living.  But all is well, the immune system kicked in, and the viral invaders have been suppressed.  Alas, like the Terminator, they're always quoting: "I'll be back..."

I suspect my immune system was lowered in capacity due to all the snow-shoveling activity, which is tougher on the body than any gym exercise session.  Utah got dumped on seriously through the 10th, and since I live on the side of Mt. Timpanogos, it doubled its portions just for me.  Since the end of the serial wave of snowstorms, it has been quiet, weather-wise, and we're trapped in an inversion. That means the valley air is stagnant, the pollution doesn't leave, and air quality suffers. That makes it hard on everyone's respiratory systems.  Fortunately, my home is just slightly high enough on the benches to poke up through the thickest layers of smog.  We've also seen thick morning fog as a result.  That's kindof cool.

Anyhow, it's time to get back to spaceblogging.