Satellite's operation time exceeds expectations

  • Published
  • By Taylor Lawrence
  • 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  When the Radar Calibration satellite launched in 1993, it was expected to have three-year operation time. Those expectations were far exceeded.

After RADCAL's initial launch June 25, 1993, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., it remained operational for nearly 20 years until its last valid communication came in May.

Kirtland has been involved with RADCAL since 1997, commanding and monitoring the health of the satellite. In commemoration, Team Kirtland RADCAL members held a video telephone conference with Vandenberg to celebrate together the 20-year success.

"To have had the RADCAL up and running for 20 years straight is an amazing feat," said Col. Troy Brashear, the Space Development and Test Directorate director and Space and Missile Systems Center, Detachment 1, commander.

The 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg began looking into radar accuracy in 1969, when missile contractors weren't convinced the current methods of radar calibration were accurate. It was discovered that, in most cases, the current methods were inaccurate.

"The problem was addressed, and eventually everyone was interested in calibrating their radars," said Jim Bryan, the original RADCAL mission manager. "In 1993, when RADCAL was finished and launched, it was amazing how well it worked, but it worked because it was simple."

RADCAL runs on two packs of 15 "D" batteries, has an 80/86 processor on board and uses the same solar panels some people have on their homes.

"This was the first satellite dedicated to radar performance monitoring and calibration. It has executed more than 11,000 C-Band transponder events, and has supported approximately 37,000 radar calibrations since its launch in 1993," said Martin Prochazka, the 30th RMS technical adviser.

Now that it is no longer operational, RADCAL will be defunded, and the Joint Space Operations Center will continue to track it to make sure it doesn't cause problems for any other space missions.