Illustration of the Ariel-1 space satellite; the first British satellite to be launched on the 26th of April 1962. Measuring 58 centimetres in diameter and weighing 62 kilograms, the satellite had solar panels, nickel-cadmium batteries and a 100-minute recorder for collecting ionospheric data. Ariel-1 was also the first internationally developed satellite: NASA's Gooddard Space Flight Center in the USA provided the launch rocket and built the satellite structures whilst the satellite carried six experiments built by British universities on-board. These experiments were designed to study the ionosphere and its relationship to solar radiation. The satellite transmitted ionospheric data until November 1964 and was deorbited in 1972.