|
|
Library > Fact sheets > Tactical Satellite-3
TACTICAL SATELLITE-3
The Tactical Satellite-3 spacecraft, scheduled to launch in late January 2009, features an onboard processor, which will provide real-time data (within 10 minutes of its collection) to the combatant commander in the theater of interest.
TacSat-3 project partners include the Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Air Force Space Command, the Department of Defense Operationally Responsive Space Office, the Office  of Naval Research, the National Air and Space Intelligence Center, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the Air Force Research Laboratory Sensors Directorate.
Originated in 2004 as part of the Responsive Space Initiative addressing the military's need for responsive, flexible and affordable systems operating in the cosmos, TacSat-3 serves as the inaugural small satellite program to participate in a formal payload selection process based on the recommendations by the combatant commands and a review by a flag officer panel. The spacecraft consists of three distinct payloads, the Advanced Responsive Tactically Effective Military Imaging Spectrometer hyperspectral imager, the Office of Naval Research's Satellite Communications Package and the Space Avionics Experiment.
As the mission's primary experiment the Raytheon Co. ARTEMIS HIS will rapidly supply target detection and identification data, as well as information related to battlefield preparation and combat damage assessment. The SCP trial will collect data from sea-based buoys and transmit information back to a ground station for expeditious communication to the warfighter. The AFRL-designed SAE payload will validate plug-and-play avionics capability, which involves the use of reprogrammable components to integrate the experiment and the spacecraft structure. Weighing less than 880 pounds (400 kilograms), the small satellite will also demonstrate a first generation modular bus providing the adaptability for future TacSat missions.
The $60 million program has accomplished all key milestones to date, but the weeks leading up to the launch will be critical. All three payloads have been delivered to AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., and integrated with the ATK Space Systems-developed modular bus. All systems level performance trials have been completed and space qualification evaluations, including random vibration and thermal vacuum testing, have been accomplished. Final checkout of flight software is currently underway, and AFRL will then ship the spacecraft to the launch site where it will be mated with the liftoff vehicle.
As a key team member in the TacSat-3 program, the Space Development and Test Wing, Kirtland AFB, is providing the Orbital Sciences Corp. Minotaur 1 lau nch vehicle. The four-stage rocket consists of two structures taken from retired Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles and another two stages from Orbital's Pegasus booster.
Launch will occur from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va. In addition to fulfilling this significant role, the Space Development and Testing Wing will assist with mission operations during TacSat-3's planned one-year flight in low earth orbit at approximately 264 miles (425 kilometers) altitude.
Current as of October 2008
377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
2000 Wyoming Boulevard SE, Suite 1A
Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico
505-846-5991
DSN 246-5991
|  |
|
|
|
|
Printable Fact Sheet