Ariel 1

First UK Satellite (UK-1, S-51)

Ariel was the United Kingdom's first satellite, making the UK the third country with hardware on orbit.

Ariel Program

In 1959 Britain proposed the Ariel program to NASA, resulting in the development of Ariel 1, an ionospheric research satellite also known as UK-1 and S-55. It was constructed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the UK's Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC).

Mission

The planned Scout rocket had fallen behind scedule, so Ariel 1 was launched on the D-9 Thor-Delta rocket on April 26, 1962 making the United Kingdom the third country to operate a satellite.

The 58 cm (23 inch) satellite carried 4 solar panels charging nickel-cadmium batteries. SERC built six experiments studying solar radiation and the earth's ionosphere, transfering data to an on-board tape recorder.

Starfish Prime

The Satellite was hit by the high-altitude Starfish Prime nuclear test on 9 June 1962, damaging its solar panels and the timer that would have deactivated the satellite one year after launch, extending its life until it decayed from orbit in 1976.