Explorer 49: Lunar Orbit – For All Moonkind Moon Registry

Mission Details

Mission Name: Explorer 49

Mission Type: Lunar Orbiter

Operator: NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

Launching State: United States

Location: Unknown

Latitude: N/A

Longitude: N/A

Launch Date: 10 June 1973, 14:13:00 UT

Landing Date: N/A

Objects on or Related to Site:
Explorer 49/RAE-B

Image Source: NASA

Description

The Radio Astronomy Explorer B (RAE-B) mission was the second of a pair of RAE satellites. It was placed into lunar orbit to provide radio astronomical measurements of the planets, the sun, and the galaxy over the frequency range of 25 kHz to 13.1 MHz.

Heritage Consideration

The spacecraft was the largest human-made object to orbit the Moon to date—with its deployed antennas measuring about 1,500 feet (457.2 meters or nearly half a kilometer!) tip-to-tip. These antennas, as well as a 630-foot (192-meter) long damper boom and a 120-foot (36.6-meter) dipole antenna, were all stored away on motor-driven reels which allowed them to unfurl in lunar orbit.

Object on or Related to Site

Object Name: Explorer 49/RAE-B
Cospar: 1973-039A
Norad: N/A
Location: Precise location unknown or undisclosed.
Launch Date: 10 June 1973, 14:13:00 UT
Landing Date: N/A
Deployment: N/A
End Date: August, 1977
Function: To provide radio astronomical measurements of the planets, the sun, and the galaxy over the frequency range of 25 kHz to 13.1 MHz.
Image Source: NASA

Description

The spacecraft, part of a duo of Radio Astronomy Explorer (RAE) missions (the other being Explorer 48), was designed to conduct comprehensive studies of low-frequency radio emissions from the Sun, the Moon, the planets, and other galactic and extragalactic sources, while in a circular orbit around the Moon. Its location was driven by the need to avoid terrestrial radio interference.