Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Vanguard 1: The World's Oldest Satellite

Episode Date: September 1, 2020

Here is a question you’ve probably never bothered to think about before….What is the oldest man made object orbiting the earth? Which, if any, of the really early satellites are still whizzing around up in space? It turns out, the fourth satellite ever put in orbit is still there, 62 years after it was launched. Learn more about Vanguard 1, the world’s oldest satellite, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here's a question you've probably never bothered to think about before. What is the oldest man-made object still orbiting the Earth? Which, if any, of the really early satellites are still whizzing around up in space? It turns out the fourth satellite ever put in orbit is still there, 62 years after it was launched. Learn more about Vanguard One, the world's oldest satellite, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Fear is the virus is trending on TikTok.

are poison. Then your yoga teacher says that sex traffic children are being sacrificed by satanic liberals, but it's all okay. The Great Awakening is coming. What is happening? Every week on Conspirality Podcast, we explore the fever dreams that suck friends, family, and wellness gurus down the right-wing cult spiral in a search for salvation. This episode is sponsored by audible.com. If you're interested in the early space program, the audiobooks, I would recommend is American Moonshot, John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race by Douglas Brinkley. Drawing on new primary source material and major interviews with many of the surviving figures who are key to America's success, Brinkley brings this fascinating history to life as never before.

American Moonshot is a portrait of the brilliant men and women who made this giant leaf possible, the technology that enabled us to propel men beyond Earth's orbit to the moon and return them safely, and the geopolitical tensions that spurred Kennedy to commit himself, to fulfill this audacious dream. You can get a free one-month trial to Audible and two free audiobooks by going to audibletrial.com slash everything everywhere, or by clicking on the link in the show notes. In the 1950s, the United States was riding high. They had won World War II, their economy is strong, unemployment was low, and they had this newfangled thing called television. Then on October 4, 1957, everything changed. People woke up to discover that the Russians

had put an artificial satellite named Sputnik into orbit. It was a national punch to the gut. Not only was their national embarrassment, but there was also a great deal of concern. If the Russians could launch something into orbit, then they could drop a nuclear weapon pretty much anywhere on Earth. Within a month, the Russians announced a second satellite, Sputnik 2, and this time they even had a dog onborn named Lyca,

who, by the way, it was a one-way flight because they never had any intention of bringing her back safely. The U.S. had to do something and do something quick. On December 6, 1957, about two months after the Sputnik launch, the United States, with great fanfare, launched the Vanguard 1A satellite, which blew up in spectacular fashion on the launch pad. Oddly enough, the satellite survived the explosion and was recovered, it's now at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Next month, on January 31st, 1958, the U.S. finally got their ducks in a row, and launched Explorer 1, which was the first American satellite and the third artificial satellite ever to orbit the Earth. Uray for America. Less than a week later on February 5th, the Americans tried to launch their second satellite, and it failed. Next month, on January 5th, they tried again for satellite number 2, and it failed. So far, the U.S. was batting 250 in satellite launch attempts, and they were inching close to the Mendoza line. Their third attempt to launch their second satellite into orbit was two weeks later on March 17th. This was their third attempt to launch a Vanguard satellite into orbit, and this time it was a success.

Vanguard 1 wasn't much of a spacecraft. It was small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Nikita Khrushchev mockingly called it a grapefruit satellite, and if he kind of had a point, it was about the size of a grapefruit. It was a sphere encased in aluminum, and it weighed only 3.2 pounds, or 1.417. kilogram. A mercury battery powered a 10-millimeter, and six small solar cells were used to power a 5-millimeter. The satellite was the first one ever to be powered with solar cells. The satellite was part of the international geophysical year, and the transmissions from the satellites were some of the first real science ever done from space. The data from Vanguard One offered the first evidence that the Earth isn't a perfect sphere, but rather slightly asymmetric. The signal from the battery lasted only 20 days,

and the signal powered by the solar cells lasted a full six years. The last signal received from the satellite was from a tracking station in Keto, Ecuador, in May 1964. There was a point to my listing all of the satellites which were launched before Vanguard 1. Sputnik 1 only stayed in orbit until January 4, 1958. Sputnik 2 re-entered the atmosphere on April 14, 1958. Explorer 1 stayed in orbit for a full 12 years before finally falling to Earth on March 31, 1970. Vanguard 1, however, the fourth satellite ever put in orbit is still there. It has never reentered the atmosphere in the 62 years since it was launched, and given its orbit,

it isn't going to be coming back to Earth any time soon. This makes Vanguard 1, and its upper launch stage, the oldest man-made objects in orbit. To date, it has completed almost a quarter million orbits of the Earth and has traveled over 7 billion miles. The original estimate of how long it would remain in orbit was 2,000 years. However, they didn't anticipate the changes in orbit due to the pressure from solar radiation and the drag from solar winds. It's now expected to be in orbit for another 200 years in a highly elliptical orbit. Because of its historical significance, the question has to be raised, could we salvage Vanguard

1? It currently isn't hurting anything. While technically space junk, it's in an orbit that's well above most low-earth orbit satellites. Capturing and bringing the satellite back is possible, but it would cause a lot of it. money. A lot of money. If it were to be attempted, it would probably be to test the capabilities of a mission to medium Earth orbit and to rendezvous with something in such an elliptical orbit. It would be an interesting project, albeit a pricey one. The satellite is small, and there's

probably a lot that could be learned from analyzing something which has been in space for so long. That being said, there's no rush. We have 200 years to capture it before it burns up in the atmosphere and to find a nice home for it in a museum. Executive producer of our Everything Everywhere Daily is James Macalah. Today's review comes from Mary Jo Manzaneras, who writes, Daily Fun, a fun snippet of information, humor, or quirkiness to start the day. And don't we all need more of that in our lives these days? Thank you very much for the review, Mary Jo, and thank you also for being a supporter over on Patreon.

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