Beacon 1
Beacon 1 was an attempted NASA atmospheric-research mission built around a twelve-foot inflatable sphere. Tracking the lightweight sphere's orbital drag was intended to improve measurements of upper-atmosphere density while its radio beacon supported ionospheric and geodetic observations.
Follow this mission
Alerts are unavailable because this mission is no longer active.
Identity
- Aliases
- Beacon IExplorer BeaconRS-49 payload
- Name
- Beacon 1
- Slug
- beacon-1
- Status
- failed
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- Beacon 1 was an attempted NASA atmospheric-research mission built around a twelve-foot inflatable sphere. Tracking the lightweight sphere's orbital drag was intended to improve measurements of upper-atmosphere density while its radio beacon supported ionospheric and geodetic observations.
- End Date
- 1958-10-23
- Launch Site
- Outcome
- The upper-stage and payload assembly separated prematurely during the Juno I launch. Beacon 1 followed a suborbital trajectory and the inflatable satellite did not enter its planned Earth orbit.
- Program
- Explorer
- Start Date
- 1958-10-23
- Vehicle Families
Links
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- July 18, 2026 at 18:38:30 UTC
- Updated Time
- July 18, 2026 at 18:38:30 UTC
Other
- Affiliations
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles