Explorer 33

Infobox Spacecraft
Name = "Explorer 33"


Caption =
Organization = NASA
Major_Contractors =
Mission_Type = magnetospheric research
Satellite_Of = Earth
Decay =
Launch = July 1 1966
Launch_Vehicle = Delta E
Mission_Duration = July 1 1966 – September 21 1971
NSSDC_ID = 1966-058A
Webpage =
Mass = 104 kg
Power =

Explorer 33 (IMP-D) was a spacecraft launched by NASA on July 1, 1966 on a mission of scientific exploration. Originally intended for a lunar orbit, mission controllers worried that the spacecraft's trajectory was too fast to guarantee lunar capture. [ cite web
url=http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19670009370_1967009370.pdf
title=Interim Flight Report, Anchored Interplanetary Monitoring Platform, AIMP I - Explorer XXXIII
author=J. J. Madden
publisher=NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
year=1966
month=December] 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. [cite web
url=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/imp.htm
title=IMP Chronology
publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica]

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. [cite web
url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/masterCatalog.do?sc=1966-058A
title=Explorer 33 (NSSDC ID: 1966-058A)
publisher=NASA / National Space Science Data Center
date=2008-04-02
accessdate=2008-07-04] Principal investigator James Van Allen used electron and proton detectors aboard the spacecraft to investigate charged particle and X-ray activity. [cite web
url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experimentDisplay.do?id=1966-058A-05
title=Explorer 33 – Electron and Proton Detectors
publisher=NASA / National Space Science Data Center
date=2008-04-02
accessdate=2008-07-04] 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. [cite web
url=http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=238288&id=9&qs=Ne%3D20%26N%3D4294924156%26Ns%3DPublicationYear%257C0
title=On the high correlation between long-term averages of solar wind speed and geomagnetic activity
author=Crooker, N. U.; Feynman, J.; Gosling, J. T.
date=1977-05-01
accessdate=2008-07-04
publisher=NASA]

References

External links

* [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19670017263_1967017263.pdf AIMP-D Technical Summary Description]
* [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19670022978_1967022978.pdf Second Interim Flight Report - AIMP-I - Explorer XXXIII]
* [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19670009321_1967009321.pdf Observations of the earth's magnetic tail and neutral sheet at 510,000 km by Explorer 33 - 1966]
* [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19710067439_1971067439.pdf Observations of the earth's magnetic tail and neutral sheet at 510,000 km by Explorer 33 - 1967]
* [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19670023519_1967023519.pdf Mapping of the earth's bow shock and magnetic tail by Explorer 33]
* [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19680019293_1968019293.pdf Energetic particles in the outer magnetosphere - Explorer 33]