Spacecraft
This definition page has been automatically generated. You can help ExoDictionary by expanding, updating, or correcting it. |
This autostub has not yet had its initial copyediting proof and may contain significant formatting and even factual errors. You can improve Exodictionary by cleaning up the page markup and verifying that the definition is correct and then removing this tag. |
This autostub has not yet had its initial categorization proof and may be categorized incorrectly. You can improve Exodictionary by removing inappropriate categories and then removing this tag. |
Spacecraft
</dt>
Devices, manned and unmanned, which are designed to be placed into an orbit about the
earth or into a trajectory
to another celestial
body.
</dd>
From 1957 through 1962 spacecraft were designated by the year and a
Greek letter assigned in the order of launching, as 1958α for the first satellite of 1958. When more than
one object was put in orbit by a single launch vehicle, each object was
numbered, as 1961o2. (Space probes were not included in this system until
1960). Beginning January 1, 1963, arabic numerals supplanted Greek letters in
the scientific designations of all spacecraft with a lifetime of more than 90
minutes. Thus, the first satellite launched in 1963 was 1963-1, the last was
1963-55. When more than one component is put in orbit, alphabetical suffixes
are added to the designations, as 1963-4A. The letter A usually designates the
component carrying the principle scientific payload; B, C, etc., are used as
needed for any subsidiary payloads and then for inert components in order of
maximum brightness. The designation system was promulgated formally in the
COSPAR Guide to Rocket and Satellite Information and Data Exchange. The Guide
has been published in full in COSPAR Information Bulletin No. 9, July 1962,
and in IGY Bulletin No. 61, July 1962. Table XIV
is a listing of scientific satellites and space
probes launched through 1964 and is reprinted from the IG Bulletin
(International Geophysics Bulletin) published by the National Academy of
Sciences.
</dd>
References
This article is based on NASA's Dictionary of Technical Terms for Aerospace Use