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Project Vela
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== Vela Hotel and the Initial Vela Project == [[File:Vela-1 satellite.jpg|thumb|A bird's eye view of the Vela 1 satellite from the Vela Hotel series]] There is very little documentation which directly addresses the topic of the initial Vela Project due to its low funding, staffing, resources and status of priority. The first sensor package sent into space, labelled the "Vela Hotel" experiment, was launched aboard the Ranger 1 lunar probe in August of 1961 and returned useful data.<ref>Hall,RC. Lunar Impact a history of project ranger. Courier Corporation. 2013</ref> It is known that the majority of the work done on the initial Vela Project was implemented into [[Vela (satellite)|Vela Hotel]], which monitored outer space for nuclear tests. The Vela Hotel satellite program was primarily developed at [[Los Alamos National Laboratory|Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory]], under the supervision of the [[United States Air Force]]. A system of [[X-ray]], [[Neutron radiation|Neutron]], and [[Gamma ray|Gamma-Ray]] detection monitored for nuclear testing beyond the atmosphere. The satellites' instrumentation count<ref name=":1">Wade, M. (Ed.). (2016, July 11). Vela. Retrieved May 24, 2017, from <nowiki>[https://web.archive.org/web/20161228060309/http://astronautix.com/v/vela.html Article title]</nowiki></ref> included 12 X-ray detectors, 18 internal Neutron and Gamma-ray detectors, data transmission equipment to send the information back to Earth, and a set of [[Solar panels on spacecraft|solar panels]] which generated 90 watts to power the instrumentation on each satellite. Six of the Vela Hotel series satellites were manufactured, each with a design life of six months, and they were launched a week after the [[Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty|PTB]] Treaty on October 17, 1963. After deployment these satellites remained operational and online for 5 years before being shut down. The Vela Hotel series of satellites never detected any weapons being tested in outer space, but they did provide the scientific community with valuable data regarding the mechanics of the [[Solar System]]. Importantly, this series of satellites was responsible for discovering [[Gamma-ray burst|Gamma-Ray Bursts]],<ref>Klebesadel R.W.; Strong I.B. & Olson R.A. (June 1, 1973). [http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1973ApJ...182L..85K&defaultprint=YES&filetype=.pdf "Observations of Gamma-Ray Bursts of Cosmic Origin"] (PDF). ''[[Astrophysical Journal Letters ]]''. '''182''': L82-85. {{bibcode|1973ApJ...182L..85K}}. {{doi|10.1086/181225}}. Retrieved May 24, 2017.</ref> markers of collapsing stars and black holes which are now recognized as [[Gamma-ray burst progenitors|the most violent events in the universe]]. The discovery of Gamma-Ray Bursts enabled scientists with unprecedented ability to [[Space exploration|map the universe]] as they augmented existing methods of measuring light to identify deep space objects.
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