Miranda (satellite)

Miranda
COSPAR ID 1974-013A
SATCAT no. 07213[1]
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer Hawker Siddeley Dynamics
Launch mass 92 kilograms (203 lb)[2]
Power 2 deployable solar arrays
Start of mission
Launch date 9 March 1974, 02:22:00 (1974-03-09UTC02:22Z) UTC
Rocket Scout D-1
Launch site Vandenberg SLC-5
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth Orbit
Eccentricity 0.01403
Perigee 714 kilometres (444 mi)
Apogee 916 kilometres (569 mi)
Inclination 97.8 degrees
Period 101.2 minutes
Epoch 8 March 1974, 08:22:00 UTC [3]

Miranda, also known as X-4, is a British satellite in low Earth orbit. The satellite was launched in March 1974 as an engineering test bed of technologies in orbit.[2]

Launch

Miranda was due to be launched by a British Black Arrow rocket, but due to the project's cancellation the payload was instead launched on a NASA-owned rocket.[2]

Mission

Designed as an engineering test bed for various technologies in orbit, Miranda carried various sensors and detectors.[2]

Current Status

The satellite is now non-active, but remains in low Earth orbit. Miranda is part of the vast amounts of space junk in orbit around the Earth and will decay into the atmosphere some time in the future.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Sat Cat". Celestrak. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Miranda (X 4)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  3. ↑ "NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Trajectory Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
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