Science: Hat Trick

While Soviet scientists cheered their Lunik back toward earth, U.S. space and missile men also put in a busy week. In a three-point hat trick after weeks of disappointing failures, the U.S. orbited an instrument-packed scientific satellite, quickly topped off that accomplishment with the most successful flights yet of an air-launched ballistic missile and a Nike-Zeus anti-missile missile. Items: ¶Up from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral and into orbit from the tip of a four-stage Army Juno II rocket curved the 91½-lb. Explorer VII. By far the most sophisticated U.S. satellite, it is crammed with instruments that will chemically identify and count heavy particles of cosmic rays (knowledge that is crucial to manned space flight), study the transfer of heat from tropics to polar regions and from the earth back into space (which is basic to weather forecasting), and carry out other experiments. The satellite is shaped like a gyroscope and is spun to keep it whirling cleanly instead of tumbling. It squeals like a bagpipe as it signals from two transmitters—one powered by a chemical battery, the other solar-powered and possibly could transmit for the expected life of the satellite—20 years. But, through a unique timing device, the radio will shut off after one year so as not to clutter the air waves. Explorer VII takes over from the Explorer VI paddlewheel (TIME, Aug. 17), whose solar-powered radio, expected to run for years, disappointingly signed off a fortnight ago.

¶Within hours of the Explorer VII firing, and not far away, a B-47 bomber rose seven miles above the Atlantic. It hovered off the Florida coast until the orbiting Explorer VI was passing overhead; then the three-man crew launched a two-stage, solid-fuel Bold Orion missile.

The 37-ft. Martin-made missile lifted into a steep arc, soared “within ten miles” of Explorer VI, 156 miles up. It then continued squarely on course, plunking into the ocean 1,000 miles from the launch spot. The Air Force’s argument: an airborne ballistic missile like Bold Orion, mounted on a long-endurance B70 bomber, would provide instantaneous retaliation against aggression, from a missile base that would be difficult to pinpoint and knock out; it might also be used against enemy satellites or spaceships. ¶Next day an Army solid-fuel Nike-Zeus anti-missile missile streaked across the skies above White Sands Proving Ground, N. Mex. Among the nation’s warbirds, it is the most powerful (up to 500,000 lbs. thrust v. 400,000 Ibs. for the Atlas) and the fastest (more than 17,000 m.p.h.). At those speeds the Zeus encounters enormous heat and stress, and it broke up on its maiden flight in August. Last week’s Zeus fell a bit short of its planned 100-mile course, but showed that the frame and propulsion system are basically solid.