The Air Force is poised for Tuesday’s launch of the Space Test Program Satellite-3 into orbit from Wallops Island, Va. A Minotaur I rocket will carry STPSat-3 aloft from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, states a Nov. 13 release from Kirtland AFB, N.M. The Minotaur will also deploy 28 mini experimental satellites known as CubeSats for on-orbit technological demonstrations. This launch is the Air Force’s Operationally Responsive Space-3 mission. It will offer the Air Force the opportunity to demonstrate “the agility and affordability” of commercial-like launch processes and “to validate new concepts for launch resiliency for the future,” Col. William Gillespie, the Space and Missile Systems Center’s launch director, told reporters during a Nov. 14 teleconference. Among STPSat-3’s payloads are a de-orbit module to demonstrate a lightweight, low-cost de-orbit device and a laser illumination sensor. Ball Aerospace built STPSat-3, which has a design life of 13 months, but might be able to operate on orbit for several years, states the release. (Includes Kirtland report by 1st Lt. Michael Clark)
Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, nominee to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Defense Department needs to upgrade its electronic warfare capability and its EW training ranges; just as his predecessor said at his own confirmation hearing.