Abstract
MERIDIAN transit radio observations have been made of the Satellite 1958α by means of a modified Minitrack Mark II interferometer located at the Sohio Research Laboratories east of Cleveland, Ohio (lat. 41° 26.3′ N., long. 81° 32′ W.). Because of the generally low altitude of the satellite at this station, the horizontal dipoles were replaced with commercial Yagi antennas, following a suggestion of G. W. Swenson, jun., of the University of Illinois. The completed system acts as a compound interferometer in that two pairs of Yagis are separated by 2.5 wavelengths from each other and 55 wave-lengths from the other two pairs. This was done to minimize lobe ambiguities. The antenna system deviates about 0.3 deg. from the true east–west base-line as determined by solar transit observations. The receiving system consists of a low-noise preamplifier, triple -conversion receiver, WWV time-marking circuit and a dual-channel recorder which was kindly loaned by the Brush Instrument Co. More than 120 transits have been observed to date. Fifty-six transits between Feb. 15 and Feb. 27 were selected for further analysis, as the multiple interferometer was in operation during that time.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
GRANT, G., JONES, A., BURHANS, R. et al. Determination of Orbital Characteristics of an Earth Satellite from Single-Station Radio-Transit Observations. Nature 181, 900–901 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1038/181900a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/181900a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.