 The lunar orbiter Pioneer 0. | |
| Mission type | Lunar orbiter[1][2] |
|---|---|
| Operator | Air Force Ballistic Missile Division[3][1][2] |
| COSPAR ID | ABLE1 |
| Mission duration | 73.6 seconds[4] Failed to orbit |
| Apogee | 16 kilometers (9.9 mi)[2] |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | Space Technology Laboratories[1][2] |
| Launch mass | 83.8 pounds (38.0 kg)[5] |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 17 August 1958, 12:18 GMT[1][2] |
| Rocket | Thor DM-18 Able-I (Thor # 127)[1][2] |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral, LC-17A[2] |
| Instruments | |
| Television camera, magnetometer, micrometeoroid impact detector[5] | |
Project Able-1 Probes (USAF) | |
| Instruments | |
|---|---|
| TV camera : | Photograph the Moon |
| Magnetometer : | Interplanetary magnetic field |
| Micrometeoroid detectors : | Micrometeoroids |
Pioneer 0 (also known as Able 1) was a failed United States space probe that was designed to go into orbit around the Moon, carrying a television camera, a micrometeorite detector and a magnetometer. It was part of the first International Geophysical Year (IGY) science payload. It was designed and operated by the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division as the first spacecraft in the Pioneer program and was the first attempted launch beyond Earth orbit by any country,[6] but the rocket failed shortly after launch. The probe was intended to be called Pioneer (or Pioneer 1), but the launch failure precluded that name.
- ^ a b c d e "Pioneer 0, 1, 2". Mission and Spacecraft Library. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA. Archived from the original on 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
- ^ a b c d e f g Wade, Mark (2008). "Pioneer 0-1-2". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2008-10-15. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
- ^ Waldron, Harry (Fall 2004). "The Air Force Ballistic Missile Division and the Pioneer Lunar Probes of 1958" (PDF). High Frontier the Journal for Space and Missile Professionals. 1 (2). United States Air Force Space Command: 10. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
- ^ 1958 NASA/USAF Space Probes (ABLE-1) Final Report: Volume 1. Summary (PDF) (Report). Space Technology Laboratories. 1959-02-18. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
- ^ a b 1958 NASA/USAF Space Probe (ABLE-1) Final Report: Volume 2. Payload and Experiments (PDF) (Report). Space Technology Laboratories. 1959-02-18. Retrieved 2009-02-17.
- ^ Siddiqi, Asif A. (2018). Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016 (PDF). The NASA history series (second ed.). Washington, DC: NASA History Program Office. p. 1. ISBN 9781626830424. LCCN 2017059404. SP2018-4041.