Explorer 49

Explorer 49
Spacecraft properties
Artist's impression of Explorer 49 in orbit around the Moon

Mission type	Radio astronomy
Operator	NASA^[1]
COSPAR ID	1973-039A
SATCAT №	6686
Mission duration	2 years

Launch mass	328 kilograms (723 lb)

Start of mission
Launch date	10 June 1973, 14:13:00 (1973-06-10UTC14:13Z) UTC
Rocket	Delta 1913^[2]
Launch site	Cape Canaveral LC-17B^[2]

End of mission
Last contact	August 1977 (1977-09)

Orbital parameters
Reference system	Selenocentric
Periselene	1,123 kilometers (698 mi)
Aposelene	1,334 kilometers (829 mi)
Inclination	61.3 degrees
Epoch	15 June 1973

Lunar orbiter
Orbital insertion	15 June 1973, 07:21 UTC

Explorer 49 (also called RAE-B) was a 328 kilogram satellite launched on June 10, 1973 for longwave radio astronomy research. It had four 230-meter long X-shaped antenna elements, which made it one of the largest spacecraft ever built.^[2]

Launch

Explorer 49 was launched after the termination of the Apollo program, and although it did not examine the Moon directly, it became the last American lunar mission until the launch of Clementine spacecraft in 1994.

Orbit

This mission was the second of a pair of Radio Astronomy Explorer (RAE) satellites, Explorer 38 or RAE-A being the first. Explorer 49 was placed into lunar orbit to provide radio astronomical measurements of the planets, the Sun, and the galaxy over the frequency range of 25 kHz to 13.1 MHz. Since the spacecraft's design used gravity gradient booms, the lumpy lunar gravity field made for some interesting problems for the mission scientists.

References

↑ Nick Greene. "Explorer 49 Information". About.com. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
1 2 3 Gunter Dirk Krebs. "Explorer: RAE B". Retrieved 25 December 2010.

External links

Astronautix.com Page on the Radio Astronomy Explorers
National Space Science Data Center Page on RAE-B (Explorer 49)
Delta-95, RAE-B Operations Summary
On Obtaining Lunar Mission Launch Opportunities (Report on Launch/Trajectory planning for the RAE-B mission)
RAE-B antenna aspect system (Report on the camera system used to verify the antenna deployment of Explorer 49)
RAE-B antenna aspect processor (Report on the processing hardware for the RAE-B Camera system)
Proposed gravity-gradient dynamics experiments in lunar orbit using the RAE-B spacecraft

Explorers program

Explorer 1 2 3 4 5 6 (S-2) 7 (S-1a) 8 S-56 9 (S-56A) 10 11 (S-15) 14 (EPE-B) 17 (AE-A) 19 30 (Solrad 8) 32 (AE-B) 33 (IMP-D) 34 35 (IMP-E) 37 (Solrad 9) 39 42 (Uhuru) 44 (Solrad 10) 48 (SAS B) 49 (RAE-B) 52 (Hawkeye 1) 53 (SAS C) 57 (IUE) 58 (HCMM) 59 (ICE) 61 (Magsat) 62 (DE-1) 63 (DE-2) 64 (SME) 66 (COBE) 67 (EUVE) 68 (SAMPEX) 69 (RXTE) 70 (FAST) 71 (ACE) 72 (SNOE) 73 (TRACE) 74 (SWAS) 75 (WIRE) 77 (FUSE) 78 (IMAGE) 79 (HETE-2) 80 (WMAP) 81 (RHESSI) 82 (CHIPSat) 83 (GALEX) 84 (Swift) 85 thru 89 (THEMIS) 90 (AIM) 91 (IBEX) 92 (WISE) 93 (NuSTAR) 94 (IRIS)

Italics indicates probes that failed to deploy or otherwise malfunctioned

Spacecraft missions to the Moon

Current

Orbiters	Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter ARTEMIS Chang'e 5-T1 (Service Module)

Landers	Chang'e 3

Rovers	Yutu

Past

Programs	Apollo Pioneer Luna Ranger Zond Surveyor Lunar Orbiter Lunokhod Lunar Precursor Robotic Program Japanese Lunar Exploration Program Chinese Lunar Exploration Program Chandrayaan

Orbiters	Luna 10 11 12 14 19 22 Explorer 35 Lunar Orbiter 1 2 3 4 5 Apollo 8 10 Apollo 15 Subsatellite (PFS-1) Apollo 16 Subsatellite (PFS-2) Explorer 49 Hiten GRAIL Clementine Lunar Prospector SMART-1 SELENE (Kaguya, Okina & Ouna) Chang'e 1 Chandrayaan-1 Chang'e 2 LADEE

Flybys	Mechta (Luna 1) Pioneer 4 Ranger 5 Luna 3 Zond 3 5 6 7 8 Apollo 13 Pioneer 10 Geotail Mariner 10 AsiaSat-3 Nozomi Galileo Cassini–Huygens Chang'e 5-T1 (Xiaofei) 4M

Impactors	Luna 2 Ranger 4 6 7 8 9 MIP LCROSS

Landers	Luna 9 13 17 21 Surveyor 1 3 5 6 7 EASEP (x1) and ALSEP (x5) Apollo Lunar Module x6

Rovers	Lunokhod 1 Apollo 15 16 17 Lunokhod 2

Sample return	Apollo x6 Luna 16 20 24

Human landing	Apollo 11 12 14 15 16 17

Planned

Barcelona Moon Team (2016)
Astrobotic / Hakuto / AngelicvM (2017)
Moon Express (2017)
SpaceIL (2017)
Chandrayaan-2 (2017)
Chang'e 5 (2017)
Chang'e 4 (2018)
Lunar Flashlight (2018)
SLIM (2019)
Chang'e 6 (2020)
Luna 27 (2020)

Proposed

Cancelled

See also

Manned missions in italics.

← 1972 · Orbital launches in 1973 · 1974 →

Luna 21 (Lunokhod 2) \| Kosmos 543 \| Kosmos 544 \| Kosmos 545 \| Kosmos 546 \| Kosmos 547 \| Molniya-1 No.31 \| Kosmos 548 \| Prognoz 3 \| Kosmos 549 \| Kosmos 550 \| Kosmos 551 \| OPS 6063 \| OPS 8410 \| Meteor-M No.29 \| Kosmos 552 · Nauka-16KS No.2L \| Salyut 2 \| Molniya-2-5 \| Pioneer 11 \| Kosmos 553 \| Kosmos 554 \| Interkosmos 9 \| Anik A2 \| Unnamed \| Kosmos 555 · Nauka-14KS No.2 \| Kosmos 556 \| Kosmos 557 \| Skylab \| OPS 2093 \| Kosmos 558 \| Kosmos 559 \| Unnamed \| Kosmos 560 \| Unnamed \| Skylab 2 \| Kosmos 561 · Nauka-9KS No.1 \| Meteor-M No.27 \| Kosmos 562 \| Kosmos 563 \| Kosmos 564 · Kosmos 565 · Kosmos 566 · Kosmos 567 · Kosmos 568 · Kosmos 569 · Kosmos 570 · Kosmos 571 \| Kosmos 572 \| Explorer 49 \| OPS 6157 \| Kosmos 573 \| Kosmos 574 \| Kosmos 575 \| OPS 4018 \| Kosmos 576 \| Unnamed \| Molniya-2-6 \| OPS 8261 \| ITOS-E \| Mars 4 \| Kosmos 577 \| Mars 5 \| Skylab 3 \| Kosmos 578 \| Mars 6 \| Mars 7 \| OPS 8364 \| Kosmos 579 \| OPS 7724 \| Kosmos 580 \| Intelsat IV F-7 \| Kosmos 581 \| Kosmos 582 \| Molniya-1-24 \| Kosmos 583 \| Kosmos 584 \| Kosmos 585 \| Kosmos 586 \| Unnamed \| Kosmos 587 \| Soyuz 12 \| OPS 6275 \| Kosmos 588 · Kosmos 589 · Kosmos 590 · Kosmos 591 · Kosmos 592 · Kosmos 593 · Kosmos 594 · Kosmos 595 \| Kosmos 596 \| Kosmos 597 \| Kosmos 598 \| Kosmos 599 \| Kosmos 600 \| Kosmos 601 \| Molniya-2-7 \| Kosmos 602 \| Explorer 50 \| Kosmos 603 \| Kosmos 604 \| Transit-O 20 \| Interkosmos 10 \| Kosmos 605 \| Kosmos 606 \| Mariner 10 \| NOAA-3 \| Kosmos 607 \| OPS 6630 · OPS 6630/2 · OPS 7705 \| Molniya-1 No.32 \| Skylab 4 \| Kosmos 608 \| Kosmos 609 \| Kosmos 610 \| Kosmos 611 \| Kosmos 612 \| Kosmos 613 \| Molniya-1-26 \| Kosmos 614 \| Kosmos 615 \| OPS 9433 · OPS 9434 \| Explorer 51 \| Kosmos 616 \| Soyuz 13 \| Kosmos 617 · Kosmos 618 · Kosmos 619 · Kosmos 620 · Kosmos 621 · Kosmos 622 · Kosmos 623 · Kosmos 624 \| Kosmos 625 \| Molniya-2-8 \| Oreol 2 \| Kosmos 626 \| Kosmos 627

Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( \| ). Manned flights are indicated in bold text. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets).

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