Orbiting Vehicle 1-86 (also known as OV1-86 [1]) was a satellite launched 27 July 1967 to measure the temperature radiation properties of different types of terrain.

The Orbiting Vehicle satellite program arose from a US Air Force initiative, begun in the early 1960s, to reduce the expense of space research.

General Dynamics received a $2 million contract on 13 September 1963 to build a new version of the SPP (called the Atlas Retained Structure (ARS)) that would carry a self-orbiting satellite.

However, in 1964, the Air Force transferred ABRES launches to the Western Test Range causing a year's delay for the program.

[3]: 418, 420 OV1-86, like the rest of the OV1 satellite series, consisted of a cylindrical experiment housing capped with flattened cones on both ends[5] containing 5000 solar cells producing 22 watts of power.

[5] OV1-86 was the second in the series (after the unsuccessful OV1-7) equipped with the Vertistat stabilisation system, developed for the Advanced Research Environmental Test Satellite (ARENTS) that eventually became OV2.

Vertistat was designed to maintain a satellite's orientation using the small difference in gravitational potential between the central body and the ends of equipment booms.

[2] The scientific payload on OV1-86 was designed to continue the work of OV1-5, measuring the temperature radiation properties of different types of terrain.