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AeroAstro Completes STPSat-1 Integration |
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ASHBURN, Va., May 10, 2006/Satnews Daily/ — AeroAstro, Inc., a provider of small satellites and related technology products, has completed the bus integration on the STPSat-1 satellite, a low-earth-orbiting satellite that will be launched this year.
According to AeroAstro, the space vehicle is being developed under contract to the DoD Space Test Program (STP) headquartered at Kirtland AFB, and will be the first DoD STP mission specifically designed to fly space experiments on the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA). This event marks the successful completion of the electrical and mechanical integration of all spacecraft components and payload elements.
Bus functional testing is in progress at AeroAstro's Virginia headquarters, to be followed by environmental tests at the Naval Research Laboratory later this year.
STPSat-1's payload comprises three experiments: the primary experiment, Spatial Heterodyne Imager for Mesospheric Radicals (SHIMMER), is a high-resolution ultraviolet spectrometer based on the new optical technique known as Spatial Heterodyne Spectroscopy (SHS). SHS facilitates the design of low mass, low power, high throughput spectrometers for space-based remote sensing.
The two secondary experiments are the Computerized Ionospheric Tomography Receiver in Space (CITRIS), which will investigate irregularities that affect propagation of satellite-to-ground links for GPS and communications; and the Micro-Electro-Mechanical (MEMS)-based PicoSat Inspector (MEPSI), a miniature free-flyer that will be released from STPSat-1 to demonstrate MEMS utility and related microsystems for proximity operations.
STPSat-1 is currently scheduled for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL, on an Atlas 5, along with five other payloads, in late 2006.
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