Miranda (spacecraft)

For the natural satellite, see Miranda (moon).

Miranda

Names	X4
COSPAR ID	1974-013A
SATCAT no.	07213[1]
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	Hawker Siddeley Dynamics
Launch mass	92 kilograms (203 lb)[2]
Power	2 deployable solar arrays
Start of mission
Launch date	9 March 1974, 02:22:00 (1974-03-09UTC02:22Z) UTC
Rocket	Scout D-1
Launch site	Vandenberg SLC-5
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth Orbit
Eccentricity	0.01403
Perigee altitude	714 kilometres (444 mi)
Apogee altitude	916 kilometres (569 mi)
Inclination	97.8 degrees
Period	101.2 minutes
Epoch	8 March 1974, 08:22:00 UTC [3]

Miranda, also known as X-4, is a British satellite in low Earth orbit. The satellite was launched in March 1974 as an engineering test bed of technologies in orbit.[2]

Miranda was named after a character in the Shakespeare play The Tempest,[4][5] just like Prospero (spacecraft) and Ariel 1.

Design

Operational

Miranda used propane cold gas thrusters for attitude control.[1]

Sensors

It contained a Canopus star sensor to determine the reflectivity and interference caused by the propane.[1]

Launch

Miranda was due to be launched by a British Black Arrow rocket, but due to the project's cancellation the payload was instead launched on the NASA-owned rocket Scout.[5]

Mission

Designed as an engineering test bed for various technologies in orbit, Miranda carried various sensors and detectors.[2]

Current status

The satellite is now non-active, but remains in low Earth orbit.

See also

• 1974 in spaceflight

Notes

1. "General information about Miranda". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
2. "Miranda (X 4)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
3. "Launch/Orbital information for Miranda". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
4. Hill 2001, p. 201.
5. Gruntman 2004, p. 17.

References

• Gruntman, Mike (2004). Blazing the Trail: The Early History of Spacecraft and Rocketry. AIAA. ISBN 9781563477058.
• Hill, Charles N. (2001). A Vertical Empire: The History of the UK Rocket and Space Programme 1950-1971 (1st ed.). World Scientific. ISBN 9781783261451.
• Trevorrow, E. U. (3 March 1977). "Miranda Data Processing - Interfaces" (PDF). Royal Aircraft Establishment. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 March 2020.