Solar Mesosphere Explorer (original) (raw)

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NASA satellite of the Explorer program

Solar Mesosphere Explorer

Solar Mesosphere Explorer (Explorer 64) satellite
Names Explorer 64Solar Mesosphere Explorer
Mission type Earth observation
Operator NASA / LASP
COSPAR ID 1981-100A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no. 12887
Mission duration 7.5 years (achieved)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft Explorer LXIV
Spacecraft type Solar Mesosphere Explorer
Bus SME
Manufacturer Ball Space Systems
Launch mass 437 kg (963 lb)
Dimensions Cylinder: 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in) diameter by 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) high
Power Solar panels and nickel-cadmiumd batteries
Start of mission
Launch date 6 October 1981, 11:27 UTC
Rocket Thor-Delta 2310(Thor 639 / Delta 157)
Launch site Vandenberg, SLC-2W
Contractor Douglas Aircraft Company
Entered service 6 October 1981
End of mission
Deactivated 31 December 1988
Last contact 4 April 1989
Decay date 5 March 1991
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric orbit
Regime Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude 535 km (332 mi)
Apogee altitude 551 km (342 mi)
Inclination 97.56°
Period 95.50 minutes
Instruments
Ultraviolet ozone spectrometerMicrometer spectrometerNitrogen dioxide spectrometerFour-channel infrared radiometerSolar ultraviolet monitorSolar proton alarm detector
Explorer Program← Dynamics Explorer 2 (Explorer 63)AMPTE-Charge Composition Explorer (Explorer 65) →

The Solar Mesosphere Explorer (also known as Explorer 64) was a 1980s NASA spacecraft to investigate the processes that create and destroy ozone in Earth's upper atmosphere. The mesosphere is a layer of the atmosphere extending from the top of the stratosphere to an altitude of about 80 km (50 mi). The spacecraft carried five instruments to measure ozone, water vapor, and incoming solar radiation.[1][2]

Explorer 64 studied the processes that create and destroy ozone in the Earth's mesosphere. Over its 7.5 years mission, SME measured ultraviolet solar flux, ozone density, and the density of other molecules important to the understanding of ozone chemistry. During the mission over one hundred undergraduate and graduate students were involved in nearly every aspect of SME operations, including planning and scheduling spacecraft and science activities, controlling the spacecraft and its ground support system, and analyzing spacecraft subsystem performance.[3]

Managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Solar Mesosphere Explorer was built by Ball Space Systems and operated by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics of the University of Colorado Boulder.[3]

Characteristics:[1]

Launched on 6 October 1981, on a Thor-Delta 2310 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California, the satellite returned data until 4 April 1989.[1]

The spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere on 5 March 1991.[1]

Explorer program

  1. ^ a b c d "Past Missions - Solar Mesosphere Explorer". jpl.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 12 July 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  2. ^ Solar Mesosphere Explorer NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive
  3. ^ a b "Solar Mesosphere Explorer - Quick facts". Archived from the original on 13 July 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2021.