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Template:Infobox spaceflight
Explorer 33 (also known as AIMP-D or IMP-D) was a spacecraft in the Explorer program launched by NASA on July 1, 1966 on a mission of scientific exploration.
Orbit[]
Originally intended for a lunar orbit, mission controllers worried that the spacecraft's trajectory was too fast to guarantee lunar capture.[1] Consequently, mission managers opted for a backup plan of placing the craft into an eccentric Earth orbit with a perigee of 265,679 km and an apogee of 480,762 km — still reaching distances beyond the Moon's orbit.[2]
Despite not attaining the intended lunar orbit, the mission met many of its original goals in exploring solar wind, interplanetary plasma, and solar X-rays.[3] Principal investigator James Van Allen used electron and proton detectors aboard the spacecraft to investigate charged particle and X-ray activity.[4] Astrophysicists N. U. Crooker, Joan Feynman, and J. T. Gosling used data from Explorer 33 to establish relationships between the Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind speed near Earth.[5]
See also[]
- 1966 in spaceflight
References[]
- ↑ J. J. Madden (December 1966). "Interim Flight Report, Anchored Interplanetary Monitoring Platform, AIMP I - Explorer XXXIII". NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19670009370_1967009370.pdf.
- ↑ "IMP Chronology". Encyclopedia Astronautica. http://www.astronautix.com/craft/imp.htm.
- ↑ "Explorer 33 (NSSDC ID: 1966-058A)". NASA / National Space Science Data Center. 2008-04-02. http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/masterCatalog.do?sc=1966-058A. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
- ↑ "Explorer 33 – Electron and Proton Detectors". NASA / National Space Science Data Center. 2008-04-02. http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experimentDisplay.do?id=1966-058A-05. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
- ↑ "On the high correlation between long-term averages of solar wind speed and geomagnetic activity". NASA. 1977-05-01. http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=238288&id=9&qs=Ne%3D20%26N%3D4294924156%26Ns%3DPublicationYear%257C0. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
External links[]
- AIMP-D Technical Summary Description
- Second Interim Flight Report - AIMP-I - Explorer XXXIII
- Observations of the earth's magnetic tail and neutral sheet at 510,000 km by Explorer 33 - 1966
- Observations of the earth's magnetic tail and neutral sheet at 510,000 km by Explorer 33 - 1967
- Mapping of the earth's bow shock and magnetic tail by Explorer 33
- Energetic particles in the outer magnetosphere - Explorer 33
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