Satellite keeps eye on planet Earth
Detachment 2 of the Space and Missiles Systems Center at Sunnyvale's Onizuka Air Station last week successfully completed the launch and early orbit check of a $70 million research satellite.
The Miniature Sensor Technology Integration Mission 3 (MSTI3) is primarily designed to aid in the design of future earth-observation missions and carries short and medium wave infrared cameras and a visible wave length spectrometer.
The satellite will also be used for environmental monitoring such as mapping forest fires, forest degradation and the health of crops. MSTI2, this satellite's predecessor, aided in mapping a volcano that erupted in the Philippines.
"MSTI2 was able to follow the ash plume from the volcano and map where it drifted," said public affairs officer Art Haubold.
MSTI3 was launched May 16 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, aboard a Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Pegasus Hybrid launch vehicle.
In addition to performing the launch and early-orbit mission, Onizuka's Detachment 2 will serve as the command and control center for MSTI3, including daily planning and command generation for the satellite for the year it is in orbit..
"We will make sure the satellite is operating properly. We will contact the satellite once or twice a day and can command it to make adjustments if necessary," Haubold said.
Haubold said the satellite is about the size of a 50-gallon drum, standing four feet tall and weighing 466 pounds. MSTI3 will orbit 260 miles above the earth.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, June 19, 1996.
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