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Ariel 5

Ariel 5 was a British-USA X-ray astronomy mission launched on 15 October 1974 into a low-inclination low Earth orbit. Its observatory monitored the X-ray sky and produced discoveries including long-period X-ray pulsars, bright transients, and iron-line emission in extragalactic sources.

Ariel 5
NASA/GSFC HEASARC · NASA content is generally not subject to copyright in the United States and may be used for factual educational or informational purposes under NASA Media Usage Guidelines when no third-party copyright is identified; credit NASA/GSFC HEASARC, do not imply NASA endorsement, and do not use NASA insignia or logos. Asset used unchanged. · Source
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Identity

Aliases
Ariel 5Ariel VUK-5
Name
Ariel 5
Status
completed

Details

Astronauts
-
Description
Ariel 5 was a British-USA X-ray astronomy mission launched on 15 October 1974 into a low-inclination low Earth orbit. Its observatory monitored the X-ray sky and produced discoveries including long-period X-ray pulsars, bright transients, and iron-line emission in extragalactic sources.
Destination
Low Earth orbit at 2.8° inclination for X-ray sky monitoring
End Date
1980-03-14
Outcome
Ariel 5 returned long-term X-ray monitoring and major high-energy astronomy discoveries before re-entering Earth atmosphere on 14 March 1980.
Programs
-
Start Date
1974-10-15
Vehicle Families

Links

Official Url
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ariel5/ariel5.html

Assets & Meta

Creation Time
August 1, 2026 at 17:16:13 UTC
Updated Time
August 22, 2026 at 13:31:14 UTC
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