63 years since the launch of the first solar-powered satellite

Vanguard 1 is the first solar-powered artificial satellite. The launch was on March 17, 1958, on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, United States. 

Altogether, the satellite has six silicon solar cells with an installed capacity of approximately 1W. Vanguard 1 needed electrical power to operate its two radio transmitters. 

One 108 MHz transmitter, which operated for 20 days with a battery and the other with a radio frequency of 108.3 MHz, which was powered by solar energy and transmitted for more than six years. 

The satellite also has two thermistors, which measure the change in temperature of the satellite's body as it moves from sunlight to Earth's shadow and vice versa. 

The information obtained during the six years that the satellite operated on solar energy was enough for scientists to determine new information about the shape of the Earth. Currently, Vanguard 1 is no longer in operation, but continues to orbit the Earth's atmosphere. 

The satellite was designed to test the launch capability of a three-stage vehicle as part of Project Vanguard and test the environmental effects of space on its systems during its operation in Earth orbit.