| .....Vanguard
1 was a small earth-orbiting satellite
designed to test the launch capabilities
of a three-stage launch vehicle and the
effects of the environment on a satellite
and its systems in Earth orbit. It also
was used to obtain geodetic measurements
through orbit analysis. .....The
spacecraft was a 1.47-kg aluminum sphere
15.2 cm in diameter. It contained a 10-mW,
108-MHz mercury-battery powered
transmitter and a 5-mW, 108.03-MHz
transmitter powered by six solar cells
mounted on the body of the satellite. Six
short aerials protruded from the sphere.
The transmitters were used primarily for
engineering and tracking data, but were
also used to determine the total electron
content between the satellite and ground
stations. Vanguard also carried two
thermistors which measured the interior
temperature over 16 days in order to
track the effectiveness of the thermal
protection.
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