PROJECT VANGUARD REPORT NO.32 MINITRACK REPORT NO.5 MINITRACK DATA FOR THE ARTIFICIAL EARTH SATELLITES 1958 ALPHA AND 1958 BETA FROM 7 MAY 1958 TO 20 MAY 1958

摘要

The information necessary to permit satellite orbit computations from raw Minitrack data is given, and the Minitrack data on the satellites 1958 Alpha and 1958 Beta for the period 7 through 20 May 1958 are presented in appendixes. It is intended that the use of these data will encourage and facilitate the development of new computation techniques.nThe basic Minitrack measurement and the data mes¬sage itself are described, and a discussion is made of the handling and preparation of the data message for the Vanguard IBM 704 computer. The outputs of the computer are also briefly discussed. Residual data from the 704 computer's differential correction program, and meridian crossing times and elevation angles from the Burroughs E101 computer are given for each data message.nTwo correction formulas are given for adjusting the raw data. One of these corrects for overall station factors only and may be used alone if an error of about 1 percent is tolerable; the other corrects for the 1 percent error introduced by antenna pattern distortion and system crosstalk. Station constants and other information required or useful in these calculations are included in the appendixes,