Abstract
STPSat-1 was launched on March 8, 2007, into a 560 km orbit as one of the payloads on the maiden flight of the EELV Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) ring. This Class “C”, single-string satellite with a prelaunch calculated reliability less than 0.75 is currently on orbit and exceeding the per-orbit data collection requirements of the two active experiments onboard: the Spatial Heterodyne Imager for Mesospheric Radicals (SHIMMER) and the Computerized Ionospheric Tomography Receiver in Space (CITRIS). The Air Force/AeroAstro team completed the STPSat-1 Launch and Early Orbit checkout (LEO) activities within three weeks after launch, supporting an early start of the nominal operations phase and experiment data collection. On multiple occasions STPSat-1 has shown robustness in software and hardware implementation, allowing the satellite to continue its mission while dealing with issues that would have stymied a less robust design. This paper will follow the in-orbit history of STPSat-1’s proposed one-year mission life from launch to the expected end of life, currently scheduled for June 2008. The challenges presented to the mission and the implementation of the solutions will be discussed.
Presentation Slides
STPSat-1 – One Year of Successful Operations
STPSat-1 was launched on March 8, 2007, into a 560 km orbit as one of the payloads on the maiden flight of the EELV Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) ring. This Class “C”, single-string satellite with a prelaunch calculated reliability less than 0.75 is currently on orbit and exceeding the per-orbit data collection requirements of the two active experiments onboard: the Spatial Heterodyne Imager for Mesospheric Radicals (SHIMMER) and the Computerized Ionospheric Tomography Receiver in Space (CITRIS). The Air Force/AeroAstro team completed the STPSat-1 Launch and Early Orbit checkout (LEO) activities within three weeks after launch, supporting an early start of the nominal operations phase and experiment data collection. On multiple occasions STPSat-1 has shown robustness in software and hardware implementation, allowing the satellite to continue its mission while dealing with issues that would have stymied a less robust design. This paper will follow the in-orbit history of STPSat-1’s proposed one-year mission life from launch to the expected end of life, currently scheduled for June 2008. The challenges presented to the mission and the implementation of the solutions will be discussed.
