Luna 1
Encyclopedia : L : LU : LUN : Luna 1
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| Organization: | Soviet Union |
| Major contractors: | OKB-1 |
| Mission type: | Planetary Science Lunar impact |
| Launch: | January 2, 1959 at 16:41:21 UTC |
| Launch vehicle: | SS-6/R-7 (8K72) |
| Mission highlight: | Fly-by of Moon on January 4, 1959 at distance of 5,995 km |
| Mission duration: | ? |
| Mass: | 361 kg |
| NSSDC ID: | 1959-012A |
| Webpage: | [NASA NSSDC Master Catalog] |
| Orbital elements | |
|---|---|
| Satellite of: | Sun |
| Semimajor axis: | 1.146 AU |
| Eccentricity (orbit)>Eccentricity: | 0.14767 |
| Inclination: | 0.01° |
| Orbital period: | 450 d |
| Apoastron: | 1.315 AU |
| Periastron: | 0.9766 AU |
| Orbits: | 37 (as of 2005) |
| Lunar Landing: | n/a |
| Landing coordinates: | n/a |
| Lunar liftoff: | n/a |
| Instruments | |
| Magnetometer (magnetic fields) Geiger counter (radiation environment) Micrometeoroid detector Scintillation counter (magnetospheric studies) | |
The spacecraft was spherical. Five antennae extended from one hemisphere. Instrument ports also protruded from the surface of the sphere. There were no propulsion systems on the Luna 1 spacecraft itself. Because of its high velocity and its announced package of various metallic emblems with the Soviet coat of arms, it was concluded that Luna 1 was intended to crash into the Moon.
On January 2, 1959 Luna 1 became the first ever man-made object to reach the escape velocity of the Earth, when it separated from its 1472 kg third stage. The third stage, 5.2 m long and 2.4 m in diameter, travelled along with Luna 1. On 3 January, at a distance of 113,000 km from Earth, a large (1 kg) cloud of sodium gas was released by the spacecraft, thus making this probe also the first artificial comet. This glowing orange trail of gas, visible over the Indian Ocean with the brightness of a sixth-magnitude star, allowed astronomers to track the spacecraft. It also served as an experiment on the behaviour of gas in outer space. Luna 1 passed within 5995 km of the Moon's surface on 4 January after 34 hours of flight. It went into orbit around the Sun, between the orbits of Earth and Mars.
The spacecraft contained radio equipment, a tracking transmitter, and telemetry system, five different sets of scientific devices for studying interplanetary space, including a magnetometer, geiger counter, scintillation counter, and micrometeorite detector, and other equipment. The measurements obtained during this mission provided new data on the Earth's radiation belt and outer space, including the discovery that the Moon had no detectable magnetic field and that a solar wind, a strong flow of ionized plasma emanating from the Sun, streams through interplanetary space.
External links
| Preceded by: Sputnik 2 | Luna programme | Followed by: Luna 2 |
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