NSSDCA ID: 1961-022A-02
Mission Name: S 55AForty-six copper wire card detectors, consisting of windings of fine wire mounted to 3.68- by 17.78-cm rectangular cards, were used to detect particle impacts. Fourteen of the cards had wire 2-mil thick, and 32 cards had wire 3-mil thick. The total exposed effective area was 0.11 sq m. The cards were mounted in quadrants on a fiberglass support on the end of the spacecraft cylinder opposite the end on which the antennas were mounted. A break in the wire of a card would change its resistance, and this would be reported via telemetry to the transmitter. Temperatures at the wire card surfaces were expected to extend from minus 10 deg C to a maximum of 60 deg C, an amount sufficient to change the residence of the card. To compensate for this, a 100-ohm resistor was wired in parallel with a 300-phm fixed resistor and installed in series with each 2-mil card and with each pair of 3-mil cards. The particle size required to break a wire was estimated to be one-half the size of the wire. During the 2-1/2 days in which the satellite remained in orbit, no meteoroid hits were recorded.
Questions and comments about this experiment can be directed to: Coordinated Request and User Support Office
Name | Role | Original Affiliation | |
---|---|---|---|
Mr. Luc Secretan | Principal Investigator | NASA Langley Research Center |