Saturday, May 19, 2001

TSX-5

 2000-030A


TRW's Tri-Service Experiment Mission 5 is a followon to the USAF STEP program. The 113 kg payload is to be launched into highly elliptical orbit to perform experiments for BMDO and Phillips Lab. The STRV-2 payload is for BMDO, in collaboration with the UK MoD, and CEASE is sponsored by AFRL. The spacecraft is an Orbital-McLean small LEOStar. The LEOStar has a 130 kg bus dry mass, and is 0.97m dia and 0.40m high with a dodecahedral cylinder shape. It has a core module, an experiment module (the STRV-2 EM in this case). The optional propulsion module with 77 kg of hydrazine is not carried on this mission. The TSX-5 is 0.95 dia and 1.2m long. The deployable solar array is around 3 m span.

Mass of TSX-5 is 250 kg, and planned orbit is 410 x 1750 km x 70 deg. The orbit gives perigee over the UK in the summer. Control is from Kirtland AFB.

STRV-2 obtains IR background data and downlinks data via the experimental lasercom system. It also carries vibration subpression technology, and environmental exposure tests. DERA's MWIR imager will attempt to image UK military aircraft in tests.

CEASE is an automated environmental monitoring sensor suite which provides alerts of charging, SEU and radiation problems. It's also intended to distinguish between natural effects and deliberate attacks.


TSX-5 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

2000 Jun 7  1221  L-1011 takeoff  VAFB  
 1319:30 Drop of Pegasus booster 
 1319:35  Drop+5s burn 
  T+1:16 St 1 burnout 
  T+1:32 St 1 sep 
  T+1:33 St 2 burn 
  T+2:11 Fairing 
 1322  T+2:47 St 2 burnout 
 1332  T+12:14 St 2 sep 
  T+12:25 St 3 burn 
 1332:41  T+13:11 St 3 burnout 
 1334:02  T+14:32 Stage 3 sep  406 x 1706 x 69.0 
 1353  L-1011 lands at VAFB 

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