Vela 2B

Vela 2B

Vela satellite.
Operator	USAF
COSPAR ID	1964-040B[1]
SATCAT no.	837
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	TRW
Launch mass	135 kilograms (298 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	July 17, 1964, 08:22 (1964-07-17UTC08:22Z) UTC
Rocket	Atlas LV-3A Agena-D
Launch site	Cape Canaveral LC-13
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Highly Elliptical
Perigee altitude	94,436 kilometres (58,680 mi)
Apogee altitude	11,775 kilometres (7,317 mi)
Inclination	40.8°
Period	100,12 hours
Epoch	July 17, 1964 (1964-07-17)
Vela

Launch of Vela 2B.

Vela 2B (also known Vela 4, Vela Hotel 4 and OPS 3674^[2]) was a U.S. reconnaissance satellite for detecting explosions and nuclear tests on land and in space, the first of the second pair of Vela series satellites, taken together with Vela 2A and ERS 13 satellites. The secondary task of the ship was space research (X-rays, gamma rays, neutrons, magnetic field and charged particles).

The satellite was rotationally stabilized (2 rps). The ship could work in real time mode (one data frame per second) or in data recording mode (one frame every 256 seconds). The first mode was used for the first 40% of the mission's duration. The second one was used until the next pair of Vela satellites were launched.

The ship remains in orbit around Earth.

Instruments

• X-ray and charged particle detector
• Gamma ray detector and charged particles
• Neutron detector
• Electron and proton spectrometer
• Background radiation detector
• Solid state detector
• Geiger-Muller counters
• Magnetometer

See also

• Vela (satellite)

References

1. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. "Vela 2B". Retrieved July 28, 2019. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
2. Antonín Vítek. "1964-040B - Vela 3". Space 40. Retrieved July 28, 2019.

External links