A data-gathering research
satellite for the U.S. missile defense program successfully launched into space
from the Virginia coast aboard an Orbital Sciences Minotaur 1 rocket early Tuesday.
The Missile Defense
Agency's Near Field Infrared Experiment, or NFIRE, spacecraft lifted off from
the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island at 2:48 a.m. EDT (0648
GMT).
An initial countdown Monday
was scrubbed by a ground support equipment problem.
The Minotaur's first
minutes of flight were powered by two left-over motor stages from
decommissioned Minuteman 2 intercontinental ballistic missiles. They propelled
the rocket on the way to space before two additional solid-propellant stages
from Orbital's commercial air-launched Pegasus rocket program each fired to
achieve the desired orbit of 135 by 245 nautical miles with an inclination of
48.2 degrees to the equator.
The 1,089-pound spacecraft
was deployed from the rocket about 9 minutes after liftoff, becoming the 25th
satellite deployed by Minotaur.
It marked the 13th Minotaur
program flight since 2000, including seven missions using the Minotaur 1
satellite-launching version and six suborbital Minotaur 2 missile test boosters
flown for the military.
"We
are now focused on the three upcoming Minotaur launches in the second half of
this year, including two Minotaur 2 long-range target vehicles scheduled for
(Missile Defense Agency) flights this summer from Vandenberg Air Force Base,
California, and another Minotaur 1 mission scheduled to be launched from
Wallops late in the year carrying the Air Force's TacSat 3 spacecraft,"
said Ron Grabe, Orbital's executive vice president and general manager of its
Launch Systems Group.
The orbiting NFIRE
spacecraft will observe those future Minotaur 2 missile launches as a key part
of its sensor research.
"The primary mission
of the NFIRE satellite is to collect high and low resolution images of a
boosting rocket to improve understanding of exhaust plume phenomenology and
plume-to-rocket body discrimination," the Missile Defense Agency says.
In addition to the
dedicated "fly by" imaging opportunities, NFIRE aims to take
advantage of other targets, such as aircraft, rocket launches and other missile
tests from a viewing distance of 60 to 600 miles.
Forest fires, volcanoes and
ground-based rocket engine tests are on NFIRE's observation list for the
two-year mission as well.
"The MDA will use this
data to validate and update the models and simulations that are fundamental to
missile defense applications. A secondary objective of the experiment is to
collect hyper-temporal short wave infrared and visible data for assessing early
launch detection and tracking capability," according to the agency.
The satellite's main
payload is called the Track Sensor Payload. The secondary experiment onboard was
provided by the German government to test laser communications for missile
defense applications, officials said.
"This mission has been
in the works for almost five years now, and it was impressive to watch the
rocket fly into the night sky," said Col. Sam McCraw, Minotaur/NFIRE
mission director and Space Test Group commander from Kirtland Air Force Base,
New Mexico.
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