[2] It provided information on the effects of radiation from nuclear explosions in space, as it was one of several satellites whose detectors provided data for the Starfish Prime test; ultimately its solar cells were damaged by the radiation and it ceased operation.

[3] It was among several satellites which were inadvertently damaged or destroyed by the Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test on July 9, 1962, and subsequent radiation belt.

It is expected to orbit for 800 years at an altitude of about 950 kilometers (590 mi).

The first poem to be launched into orbit about the Earth was inscribed on the instrument panel of TRAAC.

Entitled Space Prober and written by Prof. Thomas G. Bergin of Yale University, it reads in part: