Vanguard 1 satellite
E15283
Vanguard 1 satellite is an early American artificial Earth satellite launched in 1958 that became the fourth human-made object in space and the oldest still in orbit, used primarily for geophysical and atmospheric research.
All labels observed (5)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Vanguard 1 | 11 |
| Vanguard 1 satellite canonical | 3 |
| Project Vanguard | 1 |
| Vanguard I | 1 |
| Vanguard satellites | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T133854 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
Target entity: Vanguard 1 satellite Context triple: [Naval Research Laboratory, developed, Vanguard 1 satellite]
-
A.
Pioneer 10
Pioneer 10 is a NASA space probe launched in 1972 that became the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt and make a direct observation of Jupiter before heading into interstellar space.
-
B.
Pioneer 11
Pioneer 11 is a NASA space probe launched in 1973 that conducted pioneering flybys of Jupiter and Saturn, helping to open the outer solar system to exploration.
-
C.
Voyager 1
Voyager 1 is a NASA space probe launched in 1977 that became the most distant human-made object in space, conducting historic flybys of Jupiter and Saturn and now exploring interstellar space.
-
D.
Gemini program
The Gemini program was NASA’s second human spaceflight project in the 1960s, designed to develop critical space travel techniques such as orbital rendezvous, docking, and long-duration missions that paved the way for the Apollo Moon landings.
-
E.
Skylab program
The Skylab program was NASA’s first space station initiative, focused on long-duration human spaceflight and scientific research in Earth orbit during the 1970s.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
Target entity: Vanguard 1 satellite Target entity description: Vanguard 1 satellite is an early American artificial Earth satellite launched in 1958 that became the fourth human-made object in space and the oldest still in orbit, used primarily for geophysical and atmospheric research.
-
A.
Pioneer 10
Pioneer 10 is a NASA space probe launched in 1972 that became the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt and make a direct observation of Jupiter before heading into interstellar space.
-
B.
Pioneer 11
Pioneer 11 is a NASA space probe launched in 1973 that conducted pioneering flybys of Jupiter and Saturn, helping to open the outer solar system to exploration.
-
C.
Voyager 1
Voyager 1 is a NASA space probe launched in 1977 that became the most distant human-made object in space, conducting historic flybys of Jupiter and Saturn and now exploring interstellar space.
-
D.
Gemini program
The Gemini program was NASA’s second human spaceflight project in the 1960s, designed to develop critical space travel techniques such as orbital rendezvous, docking, and long-duration missions that paved the way for the Apollo Moon landings.
-
E.
Skylab program
The Skylab program was NASA’s first space station initiative, focused on long-duration human spaceflight and scientific research in Earth orbit during the 1970s.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (52)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
American spacecraft
ⓘ
Earth satellite ⓘ artificial satellite ⓘ research satellite ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
1958 Beta 2
ⓘ
Vanguard 1 satellite ⓘ
surface form:
Vanguard I
|
| communicationStatus | no longer transmitting ⓘ |
| cosparId | 1958-002B ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| diameter | 16.5 centimeters ⓘ |
| dryMass | 1.47 kilograms ⓘ |
| launchComplex | LC-18A ⓘ |
| launchDate | 1958-03-17 ⓘ |
| launchSite |
Cape Canaveral
ⓘ
surface form:
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Cape Canaveral ⓘ
surface form:
Cape Canaveral, Florida
|
| launchVehicle | Vanguard TV-4 ⓘ |
| launchYear | 1958 ⓘ |
| manufacturer | Naval Research Laboratory ⓘ |
| mass | 1.47 kilograms ⓘ |
| notableFor |
first satellite to use solar cells for power
ⓘ
fourth human-made object in space ⓘ oldest human-made satellite still in orbit ⓘ |
| nssdcId | 1958-002B ⓘ |
| operator |
Naval Research Laboratory
ⓘ
United States Navy ⓘ |
| orbitalPeriod | about 134 minutes ⓘ |
| orbitApogee | about 3,800 kilometers ⓘ |
| orbitInclination | about 34.25 degrees ⓘ |
| orbitPerigee | about 650 kilometers ⓘ |
| orbitType | low Earth orbit ⓘ |
| partOf |
Vanguard 1 satellite
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
Project Vanguard
|
| powerSource |
batteries
ⓘ
solar cells ⓘ |
| precededBy |
Explorer 1
ⓘ
Sputnik 1 ⓘ Sputnik 2 ⓘ |
| program | Vanguard program ⓘ |
| purpose |
atmospheric research
ⓘ
geophysical research ⓘ ionospheric research ⓘ measuring atmospheric drag ⓘ testing solar cell power in space ⓘ tracking Earth’s shape ⓘ |
| shape | sphere ⓘ |
| signalEndDate | 1964 ⓘ |
| spacecraftBus | Vanguard series ⓘ |
| status | in orbit ⓘ |
| usedFor |
mapping Earth’s gravitational field
ⓘ
refining Earth’s geodetic shape ⓘ studying upper atmosphere density ⓘ |
| usesCommunicationBand |
108.00 MHz
ⓘ
108.03 MHz ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Subject: Vanguard 1 satellite Description of subject: Vanguard 1 satellite is an early American artificial Earth satellite launched in 1958 that became the fourth human-made object in space and the oldest still in orbit, used primarily for geophysical and atmospheric research.
Referenced by (17)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.