Introduction

t has been more than fifty years since the opening of the Space Age with the launching of the first Soviet Sputnik on 4 October 1957.1 That new Earth satellite’s self-assured beep-beep-beep signaled the beginning of a new era. Much has happened since then, including the operation of numerous robotic instruments to probe the new frontier, man’s first tentative venture into Earth orbit, the brash human landing on the Moon, the introduction of new space technologies into our everyday lives and culture, and many new and oftentimes breathtakingly beautiful glimpses of our vast universe.

The years since Sputnik have crept by at a relentless pace. A substantial fraction of the world’s present population has been born since then, and most of them know of those early times only through oral tradition, written history, and artifacts in museums.

I was recently shocked by the realization that we are nearly as far into the Space Age now as we were into the Age of Aviation when the Space Age began. Fifty years before Sputnik (only a few years after the Wright brothers’ first flights in a powered aircraft), the pioneers of aviation were speculating on whether “aeroplanes” might possibly play a useful role in warfare, transportation, and commerce. By the end of those five decades, the effectiveness of aircraft in warfare had been well established in two world wars. Airlines had taken over from trains and ships for much of the long-distance passenger travel. Aircraft were handling a substantial portion of the long-distance shipment of goods. Turboprop engines were rapidly displacing piston engines, and jet engine-driven aircraft were well established in the military services and were beginning to come into commercial service.

During the second half of the twentieth century, spacecraft have been absorbed into our culture in much the same way. We depend on them for many facets of

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2 OPENING SPACE RESEARCH

our everyday lives, including communications, navigation, position finding, Earth observation, weather and climate observation, tactical and strategic reconnaissance, and many other capacities.

Enough time has elapsed since the beginning of the Space Age to gain a good historical perspective. But it is recent enough that the memories of still-living direct participants can be tapped.

It has been customary in the popular arena to describe entry into space primarily in terms of the manned program. This is perhaps understandable because the venture of humans into any new realm is always far more exciting than the introduction of mere robots.

Nevertheless, instrumented robots did enter space first, and many of the initial technical and operational problems were solved during their development and use. Fortunately, the voices of enthusiastic and dedicated scientists, reinforced by a some­times sporadic popular interest, ensured that the first flights of space-capable launchers were put to useful purposes for research rather than being used simply to prove the technology or for military purposes. This resulted in an immensely imaginative and productive program of scientific discovery.

This tale’s focus on the research program at the University of Iowa’s Department of Physics and Astronomy is not meant to minimize the work of other groups. It does reflect the fact, however, that the Iowa department, under Van Allen’s guidance, did provide outstanding leadership in the new branch of research.

The story may be of special interest from two points of view. First, it describes the experiences of a fledgling scientist-engineer in a uniquely exciting period of initial discovery, vigorous growth, and historical significance in a new scientific arena. Second, it uses many historical materials dealing with the details of the development, launch, and use of the early Explorer satellite instruments that have never been published and do not exist elsewhere.

By extreme good fortune—by being in just the right place at the right time with the appropriate background—I was able to participate actively in the opening of this new era. As I completed my undergraduate work and was looking forward to my graduate studies, I became increasingly aware of the significance of the time. In addition to my already established custom of recording work-related activities in laboratory notebooks, I started noting some of my thoughts and experiences in personal journals. Later, as more of my time was spent in management, I began a series of office journals. Much of the material for this book was derived from those three sources.

INTRODUCTION