1996-024A
The Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) was built by APL for BMDO.
Its main experiment was the SPIRIT 3 solid hydrogen-cooled infrared telescope which maintains the dewar at a temperature of 8.5K. The sensors aboard MSX are designed to study targets simulating ballistic missiles in their coast phase against the background of Earth and space.
An MSX dedicated target launch on Aug 31 from Kauai deployed 26 test objects from its post boost vehicle as targets for MSX. Between Aug 1996 and Feb 1997 five emissive reference spheres were ejected, with a sixth reflective sphere failing to eject.
In Nov 2000, the satellite was transferred to AFSPC from BMDO and used as a satellite tracking asset. By 2008 the SBV sensor performance was degraded to unusability and the satellite was removed from service by USAF Space Command.
The satellite had a mass of 2812 kg including 78 kg of solid hydrogen, was 5.1m high and 3.3m in diameter (1.8m across not counting the arrays). Control was from APL.
| MSX | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 Apr 24 | 1227:40 | Launch by Delta 7920-10 | V SLC2 |
| 1228:43 | GEM 1-3,7-9 burnout (T+1:03) | ||
| 1228:45 | GEM 4-6 ignite (T+1:05) | ||
| 1228:46 | GEM 1-3,7-9 sep (T+1:06) | ||
| 1229:48 | GEM 4-6 burnout (T+2:08) | ||
| 1229:51 | GEM 4-6 sep (T+2:11), 60 km | ||
| 1232:00? | St 1 MECO | ||
| 1232 | St 1 sep | ||
| 1233:14? | SES-1 T+4:34? | ||
| 1233:20? | Fairing sep | ||
| 1237:35? | SECO-1 | 185? x 900 x 99.4 | |
| 1322? | SES-2 | ||
| 1322? | SECO-2 | ||
| 1325 | Delta stage 2 sep | 103.02 897 x 906 x 99.4 | |
| 1404? | Delta stage 2 depletion | (224 x 863 x 96.6) | |
| 1996 May 1 | 1016 | SPIRIT 3 cover ejected | |
| 1996 Aug 25 | 896 x 907 x 99.4 | ||
| 1996 Aug 25 | 1334 | Emissive reference Sphere 1 ejected | 905 x 953 x 99.4 (sphere) |
| 1996 Aug 31 | Observed STARS launch | ||
| 1996 Sep 12 | Emissive ref sphere ejected at 14m/s | ||
| 1996 Oct 16 | Observed Red Tigress launch | ||
| 1996 Nov 11 | ERS 3 ejected | ||
| 1996 Dec 19 | ERS 4 ejected | ||
| 1997 Feb 12 | Observed LCLV launch | ||
| 1997 Feb 20 | Sphere 5 ejected | ||
| 1997 Feb 23 | Observed LCLV launch | ||
| 1997 Feb 26 | SPIRIT 3 cryogen depleted | ||
| 1997 Sep | Observed launches from Anna Plains | ||
| 2000 Nov | Transfer to Space Command | ||
| 2008 Jun 1 | out of operational service | ||
| 2008 Jul | Decomissioned | ||
Payload:
- SPIRIT 3 0.35m LWIR telescope, 2.5 to 28 microns; Band A: 6-11 mu; Band B: 4.23-4.36 mu; Band B2 4.2-4.5, Band C 11-13, Band D 13.5-16, Band E 18-26.
- Dewar cover with 15l of Ar (less than 1 kg)
- UVISI APL UV/vis spectrometer/imager
- Contamination experiments; Space environment effects
- OSDP Onboard IR signal processor
- SBV MIT-LL Space-based visible surveillance sensor with CCD camera
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