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originally posted by: maxzen2004
My facts are easily found on the internet, prove me wrong. Hey, I was bummed out when I proved to myself. I am not here to force this down anyone's throat. If you ever had a doubt, look up the aluminum alloy melting point and look up the exosphere. Find out where the space station is, investigate it.
a reply to: TerryMcGuire
The outermost atmospheric layer extends to 10,000 kilometers (6,214 miles) above Earth and is mainly hydrogen and helium. Satellites and spacecraft orbit Earth in this layer. Temperatures increase from 2,000 degrees Celsius (3,600 degrees Fahrenheit) at the bottom of the exosphere, but the very thin air transmits little heat.
Therefore a new radio system called TRAC(E) Tracking And Communication (Extraterrestrial) was designed. TRAC(E) was an integral part of the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex. A transmitter with a mass of 0.5 kilograms delivered a phase modulated signal of 0.1 W at a frequency of 960.05 MHz. The modulated carrier power was 0.08 W and the total effective radiated power 0.18 W.
The probe continued transmitting radiation data for 82.5 hours, to a distance of 409,000 miles (658,000 km) and reached perihelion on 18 March 1959 at 01:00 UT. The cylindrical fourth stage casing (173 cm long, 15 cm diameter, 4.65 kg) went into orbit with the probe. The communication system had worked well, and it was estimated that signals could have been received out to 680,000 miles (1 million kilometers) had there been enough battery power.
Communications were via a 10 W transmitter and the directional one meter diameter high-gain antenna for transmission of photographs, and a 0.5 W transmitter and omnidirectional low-gain antenna for other communications. Both transmitters operated in the S-band at about 2295 MHz. Thermal control was maintained by a multilayer aluminized Mylar and Dacron thermal blanket which enshrouded the main bus, special paint, insulation, and small heaters.
originally posted by: maxzen2004
Go www.hq.nasa.gov
a reply to: Muninn
Batteries: two 28–32 volt, 296 ampere-hour silver-zinc batteries; 125 lb (57 kg) each