Description

This item is a full-sized model of the Explorer 11 satellite. The upper portion of the model consists of an octagonal box with four panels of solar cells protected by acrylic sheets on four of the sides. This is mounted on a cylinder that runs along the top and the bottom of octagonal box. There is a four-section metal wire loop antenna attached to the cylinder underneath the octagonal box. The model is mounted on a metal stand which is on wheels.

Explorer 11 (originally called S-15) was a gamma ray astronomy telescope satellite used to detect and measure cosmic gamma radiation from space. To build it, NASA contracted with MIT's Department of Physics and Laboratory for Nuclear Science. The MIT researchers for this project included William L. Kraushaar, George W. Clark, Gordon P. Garmire, Henry Helmken, Paul R. Higbie, and M. Agogino. Managed jointly by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, the satellite was launched April 27, 1961 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and collected data for approximately four months between May and November 1961.

This model was built to be exhibited at the New England Regional Conference on Science, Technology and Space at MIT on November 13-14, 1962. It was one of several models of space equipment exhibited at that conference.

Additional Information

The MIT contribution was first announced in 1962 in Scientific American and Physical Review Letters. A full description may be found in William Kraushaar and George Clark et al., "Explorer XI Experiment on Cosmic Gama Rays," The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 141, No. 3, pp. 845-863.