E1P (Explorer 1 Prime) / William A. Hiscock Radiation Belt Explorer

E1P (Explorer 1 Prime)

Explorer 1 [PRIME] (E1P) is a Montana Space Grant Consortium Cubesat-class satellite in development by the Space Science and Engineering Laboratory (SSEL) at Montana State University.

Its mission is to detect the Van Allen radiation belts in honor of the 50th anniversary of Explorer-1, America's first satellite that first discovered the cloud of highly energetic electrons trapped in the Earth's magnetic field.

E1P will carry a miniature Geiger tube donated by Dr. Van Allen using it to measure the intensity and variability of these electrons in low earth orbit.

E1P will demonstrate software technology developed at SSEL that uses a popular chip radio to close a digital data link with standard ham radio hardware allowing people around the world to contact the satellite and download science and housekeeping data.

The launch on a Taurus-3110 failed on 04.03.2011 when the payload fairing did not separate.

A second flight model, E1P U2, was launched through the NASA Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program in October 2011. After reaching successfully orbit, it was renamed William A. Hiscock Radiation Belt Explorer