Mission type Astronomy COSPAR ID 1974-077A Launch mass 130.5 kg (288 lb) | Operator SERC / NASA SATCAT no. 7471 Launch date 15 October 1974 | |
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Manufacturer Goddard Space Flight Center Similar Uhuru, High Energy A, Ariel 6, Ariel 4, EXOSAT | ||
Ariel 5 was a joint British and American space observatory dedicated to observing the sky in the X-ray band. It was launched on 15 October 1974 from the San Marco platform in the Indian Ocean and operated until 1980. It was the penultimate satellite to be launched as part of the Ariel programme. It was designed to fit a resource budget of 2 kg, 1 bit per second, and 1 W.
The All-sky monitor (ASM) was two one-dimensional pinhole cameras scanned most of the sky every spacecraft revolution. The angular resolution was 10 x 10°, with an effective area of 3 cm2 (0.465 sq in), and a bandpass of 3-6 keV.
The SSI had an angular resolution of 0.75 x 10.6°, with an effective area of 290 cm2 (45 sq in), and a bandpass of 2-20 keV.
References
Ariel 5 Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA