Explorer 47


Explorer 47, also known IMP-7 and Interplanetary Monitoring Platform IMP-H, was an American satellite launched as part of Explorers program. Explorer 47 as launched on 23 September 1972 on Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., with a Delta rocket. Explorer 47 was the seventh satellite of the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform.

Spacecraft and mission

Explorer 47 continued the study begun by earlier IMP spacecraft of the interplanetary and magnetotail regions from a nearly circular orbit, near 37 earth radii. This 16 sided drum-shaped spacecraft was high and in diameter. It was designed to measure energetic particles, plasma and electric and magnetic fields. The spin axis was normal to the ecliptic plane, and the spin period was 1.3 s. The spacecraft was powered by solar cells and a chemical battery. Scientific data were telemetered at 1600 bps.
The spacecraft was turned off on October 31, 1978.