Ariel 5 (or UK 5) was a joint British and American space telescope dedicated to observing the sky in the X-ray band. It was launched on 15 October 1974 from the San Marco platform in the Indian Ocean and operated until 1980. It was the penultimate satellite to be launched as part of the Ariel programme.
![]() | |
Mission type | Astronomy |
---|---|
Operator | SERC / NASA |
COSPAR ID | 1974-077A ![]() |
SATCAT no. | 7471 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Manufacturer | Goddard Space Flight Center |
Launch mass | 130.5 kg (288 lb) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 15 October 1974, 07:47:00 (1974-10-15UTC07:47Z) UTC |
Rocket | Scout B-1 |
Launch site | San Marco |
End of mission | |
Decay date | 14 March 1980 |
Orbital parameters | |
Eccentricity | 0.00325 |
Perigee altitude | 512 km (318 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 557 km (346 mi) |
Inclination | 2.9 degrees |
Period | 95.3 minutes |
Epoch | 14 October 1974, 23:00:00 UTC[1] |
Instruments | |
| |
Ariel |
Ariel 5 was the fifth and penultimate satellite of the joint British and American Ariel programme.[2] It was the third satellite in the series built entirely in the UK.[3] It was named UK 5 before launch and renamed to Ariel 5 after the successful launch.[4]
Plans for Ariel 5 were first discussed between the UK and US in May 1967 at the Ariel 3 launch. The Science Research Council (SRC) advertised a request for proposal for experiments in June. Experiments were formally proposed to NASA in July 1968.[5]
Marconi Space and Defence Systems (MSDS) in Portsmouth was selected as the prime contractor in 1969. SRC had them select MSDS Frimley for the attitude control system (ACS) and MSDS Stanmore for the core stores.[4]
A study was performed to see if the Scout rocket's heat shield could be enlarged to accommodate larger experiments for this mission. A larger heat shield was designed which allowed for a US experiment and five British experiments.[4]
Ariel 5 was spin-stabilized.[3] The satellite improved on the attitude control of Ariel 4.[6] It used liquid propane that was expanded through a reducing valve and heated with the bulk tank temperature.[7]
Power was derived from solar cells that were mounted to 7/8's of the circumference of the spacecraft. It was stored in a 3.0 Ah Ni-Cd battery.[7]
The all-sky monitor (ASM) was two one-dimensional pinhole cameras scanned most of the sky every spacecraft revolution.[8] The angular resolution was 10 × 10°, with an effective area of 3 cm2 (0.465 sq in), and a bandpass of 3–6 keV. The ASM was designed to fit a resource budget of 2 kg (4.4 lb), 1 bit per second (bps), and 1 W.[8]
The sky survey instrument (SSI) had an angular resolution of 0.75 × 10.6°, with an effective area of 290 cm2 (45 sq in), and a bandpass of 2–20 keV.[8]
Launch operations took six weeks, starting from the time the Guppy took off from Thorney Island.[9] The satellite was launched on 15 October 1974 from the San Marco platform in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya.[10]
The satellite was controlled via a mission control centre in Appleton Lab.[11] It spun at over 10 revolutions/minute.[11] Ariel 5 operated until 1980.[2]
Over 100 scientific papers were published within four years of the launch.[12]
← 1973 · Orbital launches in 1974 · 1975 → | |
---|---|
Kosmos 628 | Skynet 2A | Kosmos 629 | Kosmos 630 | Kosmos 631 | Sphinx · VDS | Kosmos 632 | OPS 6889 | Tansei 2 | San Marco 4 | Kosmos 633 | Meteor-M No.30 | Kosmos 634 | Miranda | Kosmos 635 · Nauka-17KS No.1L | OPS 8579 | Kosmos 636 | Kosmos 637 | Kosmos 638 | Kosmos 639 | OPS 6245 · OPS 4547 · OPS 3935 | Kosmos 640 | Unnamed | Westar 1 | Molniya-1-27 | Kosmos 641 · Kosmos 642 · Kosmos 643 · Kosmos 644 · Kosmos 645 · Kosmos 646 · Kosmos 647 · Kosmos 648 | Meteor-M No.22 | Molniya-2-9 | Kosmos 649 | Kosmos 650 | Kosmos 651 | Kosmos 652 | Kosmos 653 | Kosmos 654 | SMS-1 | Interkosmos 11 | Kosmos 655 | Yantar-2K No.1 | Kosmos 656 | Luna 22 | Kosmos 657 | ATS-6 | Explorer 52 | Kosmos 658 | OPS 1776 | Kosmos 659 | Kosmos 660 | Kosmos 661 | Salyut 3 | Kosmos 662 | Kosmos 663 | Kosmos 664 | Kosmos 665 | Soyuz 14 | Meteor-Priroda No.1 | DS-P1-Yu No.68 | Kosmos 666 | Unnamed | OPS 7518 | Aeros 2 | Molniya-2-10 | Kosmos 667 | Kosmos 668 | Kosmos 669 · Nauka-8KS No.3 | Molniya-1 No.38 | Kosmos 670 | Kosmos 671 | OPS 6983 | Kosmos 672 | OPS 3004 | Kosmos 673 | Soyuz 15 | Kosmos 674 | Kosmos 675 | Unnamed | ANS | Kosmos 676 | Kosmos 677 · Kosmos 678 · Kosmos 679 · Kosmos 680 · Kosmos 681 · Kosmos 682 · Kosmos 683 · Kosmos 684 | Kosmos 685 | Kosmos 686 | Westar 2 | Kosmos 687 | Ariel 5 | Kosmos 688 | Kosmos 689 | Kosmos 690 | Molniya-1 No.26 | Kosmos 691 | Meteor-M No.33 | Luna 23 | OPS 7122 · OPS 6239 · OPS 8452 | Interkosmos 12 | Kosmos 692 | Kosmos 693 | Fanhui Shi Weixing 1 | NOAA-4 · OSCAR-7 · INTASAT | Kosmos 694 | Kosmos 695 | Molniya-3 No.11 | Intelsat IV F-8 | Skynet 2B | Kosmos 696 | Soyuz 16 | Helios 1 | Kosmos 697 | Meteor-M No.32 | Kosmos 698 | Symphonie 1 | Molniya-2-11 | Kosmos 699 | Salyut 4 | Kosmos 700 | Kosmos 701 | |
Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Crewed flights are indicated in underline. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets). |