San Marco 1, also known as San Marco A, was the first Italian satellite. Built in-house by the Italian Space Research Commission (Italian: Commissione per le Ricerche Spaziali, CRS) on behalf of the National Research Council, it was the first of five as part of the Italian-US San Marco programme.
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Mission type | Ionospheric Earth science Astrophysics[1] |
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Operator | CNR |
COSPAR ID | 1964-084A ![]() |
SATCAT no. | 00957![]() |
Mission duration | ~272 days |
Spacecraft properties | |
Launch mass | 115.2 kilograms (254 lb)[1] |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 15 December 1964, 20:24:00 (1964-12-15UTC20:24Z) UTC[1] |
Rocket | Scout X-4[2] |
Launch site | Wallops LA-3A |
End of mission | |
Decay date | 13 September 1965[1] |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Low Earth |
Eccentricity | 0.0469[1] |
Perigee altitude | 198.0 kilometres (123.0 mi)[1] |
Apogee altitude | 846.0 kilometres (525.7 mi)[1] |
Inclination | 37.80 degrees[1] |
Period | 94.9 minutes[1] |
Epoch | 15 December 1964 20:24:00 UTC |
The name of the spacecraft series comes from the San Marco platform, a Jackup barge used as an offshore launch pad for the main phase of the project. San Marco (English: Saint Mark) is the patron saint of Venice, often depicted as aiding Venetian sailors.[3]
In 1961 the Italian government, led by Amintore Fanfani, approved a plan for the development of an indigenous satellite research programme that had earlier been proposed by the CRS. At the time only the Soviet Union and the United States had launched spacecraft into orbit and Italy lacked a suitable launcher and crews trained in firing orbital rockets. As a result, a cooperative plan was developed with the American space agency NASA who would provide the rockets and the launch crew training for Italians to operate them.[3]
The spacecraft was built by members of the CRS, a group of distinguished Italian scientists and engineers including Edoardo Amaldi, co-founder of major European scientific organisations including CERN and ESRO.
The mission was principally a test-flight of a real satellite to gain experience before launches from Italy's own San Marco platform began, the last of 3 phases of the project.[4]
The primary mission of the San Marco series was to conduct ionospheric (upper-atmosphere) research. As a test satellite San Marco 1 contained relatively few experiments;
San Marco 1 was launched by an Italian crew using an American Scout rocket from Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, US. Launched on 15 December 1964 at 20:24:00 UTC the satellite destructively re-entered the atmosphere on 13 September 1965.
San Marco programme | |
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← 1963 · Orbital launches in 1964 · 1965 → | |
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Poppy 3 · GGSE-1 · SOLRAD 7A · SECOR 1 | OPS 3367A · OPS 3367B | Relay 2 | Echo 2 | Jupiter Nosecone | Elektron 1 · Elektron 2 | Ranger 6 | OPS 3444 | Zond 3MV-1 No.2 | Kosmos 25 | OPS 2423 | OPS 3722 | OPS 3435 | Kosmos 26 | BE-A | Luna E-6 No.6 | OPS 3467 | Kosmos 27 | Ariel 2 | Zond 1 | Kosmos 28 | Gemini 1 | Polyot 2 | Luna E-6 No.5 | Transit 5BN-3 · Transit 5E-4 | OPS 3743 | Kosmos 29 | OPS 2921 | Kosmos 30 | OPS 3592 | Apollo AS-101 | OPS 4412 | OPS 3483 | Molniya-1 No.2 | Kosmos 31 | Kosmos 32 | OPS 3236 | OPS 4467A · OPS 4467B | OPS 3754 | Kosmos 33 | ESRS | Atlas-Centaur 3 | Kosmos 34 | OPS 3395 | OPS 3684 · OPS 4923 | Elektron 3 · Elektron 4 | OPS 3491 | Kosmos 35 | Vela 2A · Vela 2B · ERS-13 | Ranger 7 | Kosmos 36 | OPS 3042 | Kosmos 37 | OPS 3802 · OPS 3216 | Kosmos 38 · Kosmos 39 · Kosmos 40 | Syncom 3 | OPS 2739 | Kosmos 41 | Kosmos 42 · Kosmos 43 | Kosmos 44 | Titan 3A-2 | OGO-1 | Kosmos 45 | OPS 3497 | Apollo AS-102 | OPS 4262 | Kosmos 46 | Explorer 21 | OPS 3333 | Kosmos 47 | OPS 5798 · Dragsphere 1 · Dragsphere 2 | OPS 4036 | Explorer 22 | Voskhod 1 | Kosmos 48 | OPS 3559 | Strela-1 No.6 · Strela-1 No.7 · Strela-1 No.8 | OPS 4384 · OPS 5063 | Kosmos 49 | Kosmos 50 | OPS 5434 | OPS 3062 | Mariner 3 | Explorer 23 | OPS 3360 | Explorer 24 · Explorer 25 | Mariner 4 | Zond 2 | DS-2 No.2 | OPS 4439 | Kosmos 51 | Titan 3A-1 | Surveyor Mass Model | OPS 6582 · Transit 5E-5 | San Marco 1 | OPS 3358 | Explorer 26 | OPS 3762 | |
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. |