Explorer 14

Explorer 14
Mission type	Earth science
Operator	NASA
Harvard designation	1962 Beta Gamma 1
COSPAR ID	1962-051A
SATCAT no.	432
Mission duration	10 months
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	Goddard Space Flight Center
Launch mass	40 kilograms (88 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	October 2, 1962, 22:11:30 UTC
Rocket	Delta A
Launch site	Cape Canaveral LC-17B
End of mission
Last contact	August 11, 1963
Decay date	May 25, 1988
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Highly elliptical
Semi-major axis	78,707 kilometres (48,906 mi)
Eccentricity	0.8389330
Perigee altitude	2,601.0 kilometers (1,616.2 mi)
Apogee altitude	96,189.0 kilometers (59,769.1 mi)
Inclination	42.80 degrees
Period	2184.60 minutes
RAAN	212.21 degrees
Mean anomaly	333.98 degrees
Mean motion	0.6673
Epoch	16 April 1965, 20:39:58 UTC
Revolution no.	122

Explorer 14 is a spin-stabilized, solar-cell-powered spacecraft instrumented to measure cosmic-ray particles, trapped particles, solar wind protons, and magnetospheric and interplanetary magnetic fields. A 16-channel PFM/PM time-division multiplexed telemeter was used. The time required to sample the 16 channels (one frame period) was 0.323 s. Half of the channels were used to convey eight-level digital information, and the others were used for analog information. During ground processing of the telemetered data, the analog information was digitized with an accuracy of 1/100 of full scale. One analog channel was subcommutated in a 16-frame-long pattern and was used to telemeter spacecraft temperatures, power system voltages, currents, etc. A digital solar aspect sensor measured the spin period and phase, digitized to 0.041 s, and the angle between the spin axis and sun direction to about 3-degree intervals.^[1]^[2]