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Image 1 — Cosmic Ray Satellites and First Lunar Impactor (1959)
Image 2 — Cosmic Ray Satellites and First Lunar Impactor (1959)
Image 3 — Cosmic Ray Satellites and First Lunar Impactor (1959)
Image 4 — Cosmic Ray Satellites and First Lunar Impactor (1959)
Image 5 — Cosmic Ray Satellites and First Lunar Impactor (1959)
Image 6 — Cosmic Ray Satellites and First Lunar Impactor (1959)
Image 7 — Cosmic Ray Satellites and First Lunar Impactor (1959)
Image 8 — Cosmic Ray Satellites and First Lunar Impactor (1959)
Image 9 — Cosmic Ray Satellites and First Lunar Impactor (1959)
Image 10 — Cosmic Ray Satellites and First Lunar Impactor (1959)
Image 11 — Cosmic Ray Satellites and First Lunar Impactor (1959)
Image 12 — Cosmic Ray Satellites and First Lunar Impactor (1959)
Image 13 — Cosmic Ray Satellites and First Lunar Impactor (1959)
Image 14 — Cosmic Ray Satellites and First Lunar Impactor (1959)
▲ 72 r/RealSolarSystem

Cosmic Ray Satellites and First Lunar Impactor (1959)

On the 22nd of March, 1959, the Prometheus II, an upgraded Prometheus I featuring upgraded tanks and avionics, nearly quadrupling its payload capacity (~.5t to ~1.9t to LEO) and a test version of the SilverStage-L, based on previous sounding rocket stages and designed for TLI, launched for the first time. It carried a stripped down SilverStage-L, with a small cosmic ray satellite on top of it, known as Exsat VI. It successfully entered a ~215x75,000km orbit.

The second Prometheus II launch carried Exsat VII, a near identical satellite aside from slightly larger solar panels, into the same orbit on July 30th.

The third Prometheus II occurred on October 7th, 1959. It carried the full SilverStage-L TLI stage, with a small probe, dubbed Luun I on top. It entered a 160x160km intial orbit, around 30 minutes before performing TLI. On the 10th of October, it impacted the Moon, beating Luna II, although Luna I would have beat it to the first object in the Lunar sphere of influence.

Luun II and Luun III are both slated for 1960 launches, with Luun II being another Lunar impactor, and Luun III using a slightly better Prometheus IIb, with an upgraded TLI stage, to send a small SRM with it to enter Lunar orbit.

u/ABEEGTREEE — 2 days ago
▲ 38 r/RealSolarSystem

i put shiny beans in orbit (1957/1958)

Exsat II launched from Kourou, French Guiana on the newly developed Prometheus I launch vehicle on December 23rd, 1957. Due to poor time management with the creation of the Prometheus I LV, it would be the only launch of that year. The launch was mostly a test launch of the vehicle, intended to complete the polar orbit contract while the technology for the upcoming Exsat III scientific satellite's experiments were still in development. It successfully entered a roughly circular 150km orbit with a 90 degree inclination.

Exsat III was launched on May 28th, 1958, successfully entering a very elliptical orbit of around 215x1600km, but with only around a 5 degree inclination. It would discover a radiation belt around Earth, and take the first ever pictures from orbit.

Exsat IV (not pictured) would launch on August 20th of 1958, nearly identical in design and mission to Exsat III, solely to gain more data.

Exsat V launched on November 10th, 1958, as the first satellite to test solar panel technology. Simulations show the satellite will have a roughly two-week lifespan, much more than the 3 day lifespans of the previous satellites. It was placed in a circular 150km polar orbit, gathering video and magnetometer data.

u/ABEEGTREEE — 6 days ago