Midcourse Space Experiment

Midcourse Space Experiment

The Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) is a Ballistic Missile Defense Organization satellite experiment (unmanned space mission) to map bright infrared sources in space. MSX offered the first system demonstration of technology in space to identify and track ballistic missiles during their midcourse flight phase.^[1]

History

On 24 April 1996, the BMDO launched the MSX satellite on a Delta II booster from Vandenberg AFB, California. MSX was placed in a sun-synchronous orbit at 898 km and an inclination of 99.16 degrees. MSX's mission was to gather data in three spectral bands (long wavelength infrared, visible, and ultraviolet). MSX became a contributing sensor to the Space Surveillance Network on 13 May 1998.

Operations

Operational from 1996–1997, MSX mapped the galactic plane and areas either missed or identified as particularly bright by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) at wavelengths of 4.29 µm, 4.35 µm, 8.28 µm, 12.13 µm, 14.65 µm, and 21.3 µm. It carried the 33-cm SPIRIT III infrared telescope with solid hydrogen-cooled five line-scanned infrared focal plane arrays.

Calibration of MSX posed a challenge for designers of the experiment, as baselines did not exist for the bands it would be observing under. Engineers solved the problem by having MSX fire projectiles of known composition in front of the detector, and calibrating the instruments to the known black-body curves of the objects. The MSX calibration serves as the basis for other satellites working in the same wavelength range, currently including AKARI and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

MSX data is currently available in the Infrared Science Archive (IRSA) provided by NASA's Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC).

References

1. ^ Williams, Frank. "Space-Based Surveillance Operations Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration," Space Tactics Bulletin, Vol 6, Issue 4

External links

• The Midcourse Space Experiment Point Source Catalog Version 2.3 Explanatory Guide From VizieR Catalogue Service
• The Spatial Infrared Imaging Telescope III