HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. (April 25, 1996) -- Hanscom scientists will conduct experiments on the Midcourse Space Experiment satellite,launched on a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., April 24.
The satellite, known as MSX, is a major program managed and funded by the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization.
The Geophysics Directorate of the Phillips Laboratory at Hanscom, the Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a number of research contractors affiliated with the base community are major participants in the team that designed the experiments to be conducted on MSX. Lincoln Laboratory also provided one of the principal sensors for the spacecraft.
MSX will be the initial demonstration in space of the technology to detect the thermal signatures of missiles during their midcourse phase, the flight period between booster burnout and reentry into the denser atmosphere. During the first 15 months after launch, the 6,000 pound satellite will produce detailed images of targets and backgrounds simultaneously in infrared, visible, and ultraviolet wavelengths. The satellite's advanced imaging capabilities will also support a wide variety of research in global atmospheric change, astronomy, and space contamination and debris.
The Geophysics Directorate's optical environment division has two principal investigators on the MSX team. Robert O'Neil is the principal investigator for infrared atmospheric and terrestrial backgrounds, and Stephan Price for celestial backgrounds. The directorate also designed the MSX science data system, and it has the responsibility for managing the data flow. Its experiments will account for more than half the data collected by the MSX sensors.
Other Hanscom participants in the team include Michael Gaposchkin of Lincoln Laboratory, who is the principal MSX investigator for space surveillance. Thomas Murdock of the General Research Corporation, Danvers, MA, is the principal investigator for data certification and technology transfer, and A.T. Stair Jr., of Visidyne Inc., Burlington, MA, is the chief scientist for the MSX program.
In addition to the Hanscom community, major program participants include the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Utah State University, the Army Space and Strategic Defense Command and the Aerospace Corporation. The program manager at the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization is Lt. Col. Bruce Guilmain.
For more information, contact Roy Heitman via email- heitmanr@Radium-VS1.hanscom.af.mil
or at ESC's Office of Public Affairs - (617) 377-4466