Minotaur IV Launch:

TacSat-4 is the third in a series of experimental satellites intended to demonstrate new technologies for the US military. The first spacecraft, TacSat-2, was launched on 16 December 2006. The satellite demonstrated the Earth Surface Imager, or ESI, along with ten other experiments.

Whilst the mission was considered to have been successful, it was reported that some of the sensors could not be tested for several months due to a dispute between the US Navy and National Reconnaissance Office; it remains unclear if they were ever activated. TacSat-2 decayed from orbit on 5 February 2011, having ceased to operate in January 2008.

TacSat-3 was launched in May 2009, and is equipped with the Advanced Responsive Tactically Effective Military Imaging Spectrometer, or Artemis, a hyperspectral imaging experiment. It has been reported that after the experimental operation of the sensor was completed, the spacecraft was brought into service as it was found to be able to locate roadside bombs and underground tunnels.

TacSat-1, which was originally intended to be the first TacSat spacecraft, was never launched. It was intended to demonstrate the provision of infrared and optical images directly to troops on the battlefield, however its launch was repeatedly delayed, and most of its mission was completed by TacSat-2, leading to it being declared obsolete. In addition to operating its own spacecraft, the US military used the British TopSat spacecraft for a series of tests associated with the TacSat programme, for which it was identified as TacSat-0.

TacSat-4, also known as the Tactical Microsatellite Innovative Naval Prototype, or INP, was developed under a new US Navy policy of increased investment in spacecraft technology development. TacSat-4 is a 450 kilogram satellite, powered by twin solar arrays generating one kilowatt of power.

It is equipped with a 3.66 metre (12 foot) high-gain ultra high frequency (UHF) antenna, which will provide ten communications channels to augment those provided by geosynchronous communications satellites.

The Minotaur IV+ is one of several configurations of the Minotaur IV, a family of rockets derived from the LGM-118A Peacekeeper missile developed in the 1970s as part of the Missile-X, or MX, programme.

The Peacekeeper was originally designed to be moved around to prevent a first strike attack against US missiles; they would either have been deployed using mobile launchers, or extracted from their silos and moved to other ones.

These concepts had been abandoned by 1983, and instead it was decided to base the Peacekeepers in existing silos, which were designed for Minuteman missiles. A new programme was started to replace the planned mobile capability of the Peacekeeper, which led to the aborted Midgetman programme in the early 1990s.

The first of fifty one Peacekeeper launches occurred on 18 June 1983. In 2004 the missile was withdrawn from service under the terms of the START-II treaty, with the last missile being removed in September 2005. In total, 114 missiles were built, and the surplus components have since been used for several new rockets including the Minotaur IV, Taurus and the Orion Abort Test Booster.

The first three stages of the Minotaur IV are the same as the Peacekeeper’s, and all three burn solid fuel. The first stage is a Thiokol-built SR118 motor, which is also known as a TU-903. An Aerojet SR119 motor is the second stage, whilst the third stage is a Hercules Incorporated SR120.

The Postboost Axial Thruster, which was used as the fourth stage of the Peacekeeper, was fuelled by hypergolic propellants; dinitrogen tetroxide and monomethylhydrazine; and powered by an RS-34 engine. Each missile would have been armed with up to ten 300-kiloton W87 thermonuclear warheads contained within independently-targeted Mk.21 reentry vehicles.

The Minotaur IV omits the Postboost Axial Thruster; instead most configurations have an additional solid rocket motor. The Minotaur IV Lite is used for suborbital launches, and is a three stage vehicle without any solid motor replacing the Axial Thruster. The standard Minotaur IV has an Orion-38 fourth stage, whilst the Minotaur IV+, which will be used to launch TacSat-4, has a Star-48V as its fourth stage. For some payloads, a Hydrazine Auxiliary Propulsion Stage (HAPS) fifth stage may be flown, however this will not be used for the TacSat-4 launch.

The Minotaur IV a member of the Minotaur family of rockets, which are operated by Orbital Sciences Corporation, and includes five rockets derived from retired Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles to launch US government payloads on suborbital and orbital missions. Tuesday’s launch marks the twenty third flight of a Minotaur rocket, the fifth flight of the Minotaur IV, and the maiden flight of the Minotaur IV+.

The Minotaur III and Minotaur V are both derived from the Peacekeeper missile, like the Minotaur IV. The Minotaur III consists of the first three stages of a Peacekeeper, with a Super-HAPS fourth stage. No Minotaur III launches are currently known to be scheduled; the planned launch of the HTV-1 hypersonic experiment was cancelled. The Minotaur V is a five-stage rocket based on the Minotaur IV+, but with a Star-37 motor as a fifth stage. The first flight of the Minotaur V is scheduled for 2013, with NASA’s LADEE spacecraft bound for the Moon.

The older members of the family, the Minotaur I and II, are derived from the LGM-30F Minuteman II missile, and have been flying since 2000. The Minotaur I was the Minotaur to fly, and is typically used to place small satellites into low Earth orbits. To date ten have been launched. The Minotaur II, which has also been known as the “Chimera”, is used for suborbital flights to provide targets for tests of missile defence sensors and interceptors. Eight have been launched.

TacSat-4 was launched from Launch Pad 1 at the Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska. Kodiak is a commercial spaceport which is operated by the Alaska Aerospace Corporation.

Tuesday’s launch was the third orbital launch from the facility, with the first being the “Kodiak Star” mission launched by an Athena I in 2001, and the second being STP-S26 last November using a Minotaur IV. Several suborbital launches have also been made from Kodiak, among them two AITs, two Ares, and eight STARS rockets.

The launch of TacSat-4 began with the ignition of the Minotaur’s first stage when the countdown reaches zero. The rocket then begin its ascent to orbit, passing through the area of maximum aerodynamic pressure thirty seven seconds later. Fifty seconds after launch the first stage separated from the vehicle and the second stage ignited to begin a fifty eight second burn. Following burnout of the second stage, the Minotaur coasted for ten seconds before the spent stage is jettisoned, and the third stage ignited.

The third stage’s burn lasted for around a minute and thirteen seconds. Twelve seconds after ignition, the payload fairing was separated from around the spacecraft. Once the third stage burnt out, a coast phase began. Nineteen minutes and 37 seconds after beginning the coast phase, the third stage separated, with the fourth stage igniting eleven seconds later to conduct an eighty-two second burn.

Three minutes and twenty seconds after the fourth stage burn is complete, TacSat-4 separated from the Minotaur IV. The spacecraft is expected to be deployed into an elliptical medium Earth orbit with a perigee of 185 kilometres, an apogee of 12,050 kilometres and 63.4 degrees of inclination.

TacSat-4′s launch marks the fourth and final Minotaur launch planned to occur this year. Orbital Sciences’ next launch is expected to be the maiden flight of the Taurus II rocket, which is currently scheduled to occur in December.

(Images via Orbital)

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Minotaur IV Launch:

The primary payload of the STP S-26 mission is STPSat-2, which is a 180-kilogram technology demonstration spacecraft for the USAF Space Test Program. It will conduct two experiments; the Space Phenomenology Experiment (SPEX) and the Ocean Data Telemetry Microsat Link (ODTML), which will investigate operating sensors in space and relaying their data through various media, including the internet.

The Radio Aurora Explorer, or RAX, is a three unit CubeSat, which will be used to conduct studies of the ionosphere, receiving radar signals from ground stations which can be used to measure activity in the ionosphere. It was constructed by, and will be operated by, the University of Michigan and SRI International.

One of several NASA payloads aboard the Minotaur, Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses or O/OREOS, is another three unit CubeSat. O/OREOS was designed, built and is managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California - and has a mass of around five kilograms. It carries two biological experiments, one of which will test live microorganisms, whilst the other will test inanimate organic samples, in order to see how they react to conditions in space such as radiation and extreme temperature.

It will also test the use of deployable Mylar panels to increase its rate of orbital decay, and reducing the amount of time it remains in orbit as debris.

The Fast Affordable Science and Technology Satellite, or FASTSAT, is another NASA mission, which is being conducted in association with the University of Texas. It is a 140 kilogram microsatellite, which is expected to operate for 180 days. It will test a Threat Detection System and a Miniature Star Tracker for the US Air Force Research Laboratory.

Three atmospheric experiments are also being carried aboard the satellite; the Thermosphere Temperature Imager, TTI, will measure the temperature of the Earth’s thermosphere, and study the densities of oxygen and nitrogen there. The Miniature Imager for Neutral Ionosphere Atoms and Magnetospheric Electrons, or MINI-ME, will study plasma in the outer atmosphere, and the Plasma and Impedance Spectrum Analyzer or PISA will investigate electrons in the ionosphere, and attempt to demonstrate a new technique for measuring their temperature and density.

In addition to its own experiments, FASTSAT will also carry and deploy another satellite, NanoSail-D2, which will be released seven days after launch. Originally built as a ground spare, NanoSail-D2 will replace the NanoSail-D spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 2008. The Falcon 1 rocket which was to have deployed it failed to achieve orbit after residual thrust caused the spent first stage to collide with the second stage, throwing the vehicle off course. NanoSail-D2 is expected to remain in orbit for around 100 days.

Three days after deploying from FASTSAT, NanoSail-D2 will deploy its solar sail, a process which is expected to take five seconds. The spacecraft will use an S-Band transponder to communicate with Earth, and also carries a beacon broadcasting at 437.270 MHz. These will be activated before separation from FASTSAT, and are expected to operate until the spacecraft runs out of power, which will probably happen around 12 days after launch. NanoSail-D2 is a three-unit CubeSat, measuring 30cm by 10cm by 10cm, and will deploy a solar sail with an area of ten square metres.

FalconSat-5 will be the fifth in a series of technology demonstration satellites built and operated by the US Air Force Academy. It carries four experiments; the Space Plasma Characterization Source (SPCS) will use a cold gas ammonia thruster and a Hall Effect ion thruster to study their effects on the space environment.

The Hall Effect thruster will serve as an ion source for the Wafer-Integrated Spectrometer, or WISPERS, which will be used to compare its plume to theoretical data. The Smart Miniaturized Electrostatic Analyzer or SmartMESA will study the temperature and ion density of the ionosphere. It will replace an instrument originally flown on FalconSat-2, which was unable to achieve orbit when the Falcon 1 failed on its maiden flight, and despite the payload being recovered intact it could not be reflown. The final experiment, Receiver UHF/VHF Signal Strength or RUSS, will study the effects of the ionosphere on radio signals.

Formation Autonomy Spacecraft with Thrust, Relnav, Attitude and Crosslink, or FASTRAC, consists of two satellites which will be launched together. The spacecraft were built and will be operated by the University of Texas. The first has been named “Sara-Lily”, and the second “Emma”, both after the children of engineers working on the programme. Sara-Lily will study the use of a Micro-Discharge Plasma Thruster (MDPT) for formation flying with Emma. It will also carry a GPS navigation experiment. Emma will carry an Inertial Measurement Unit, or IMU, which will be used to determine the distance between the two satellites.

The basic Minotaur IV is a four stage all-solid expendable launch system derived from the LGM-118A Peacekeeper missile, which began undergoing development in the late 1970s as a replacement for the Titan II. The Peacekeeper first flew in 1983, entered service in 1986, and remained operational until its retirement in 2005 as mandated in the START-II treaty. Fifty one were launched, of which two failed, out of a production run of 114 built. Two further examples have since been flown as Minotaur IVs.

The first three stages of the Minotaur IV are essentially unmodified Peacekeeper stages. The first stage is a Thiokol-built SR118, the second an Aerojet SR119, and the third a Hercules Incorporated SR120. The fourth stage is an Orion 38, also manufactured by Hercules. On this flight, the rocket will fly with an additional upper stage; a Hydrazine Auxiliary Propulsion System, which is a liquid monopropellant fifth stage, fuelled by hydrazine, and powered by three MR-107K engines.

Despite its presence on the rocket, the HAPS will not contribute in any way to the deployment of the spacecraft. It will not even separate from the fourth stage, let alone ignite, until three minutes after the last payload has separated. It will instead be used to place two mass simulators into a circular orbit at an altitude of around 1,200 kilometres, in order to test the Minotaur’s ability to deploy multiple spacecraft into different orbits. HAPS upper stages have been used on Pegasus rockets before, however this is the first time one has flown on a Minotaur. Eight have previously been launched, two on the original Pegasus, and six on the Pegasus-XL.

The Minotaur IV is part of the Minotaur family of rockets operated by Orbital Sciences Corporation. It was developed as part of the Orbital Suborbital Program II (OSP-2), and is only available to launch US Government payloads due to laws governing the use of components provided by the US military, namely the Peacekeeper missile.

This is the third flight of the Minotaur IV, which made its maiden flight earlier this year carrying the HTV-2a hypersonic flight experiment on a suborbital trajectory. This was followed by the first orbital launch in September, which deployed USA-216, the first Space Based Space Surveillance satellite. This will be the nineteenth launch of a Minotaur in any configuration.

When the countdown reaches T-0, the first stage will ignite, and the Minotaur IV will begin its journey into orbit. Thirty five seconds into the flight the vehicle experience the area of maximum dynamic pressure, or max-Q. Fifty seven seconds after launch, the first stage will burn out and separate, and the second stage will ignite. The second stage will burn for fifty nine seconds, before separating. The third stage will then ignite, and twenty four seconds later the payload fairing will separate from around the spacecraft. The third stage burn will last 72 seconds, and following this the rocket will coast for over ten minutes.

Thirteen minutes and twenty one seconds after launch, the third stage will separate, and eleven seconds later the fourth stage will ignite for a sixty seven second burn. Once the fourth stage has burned out, payload separations will begin. STPSat-2, the primary payload, will be the first to separate and will do so sixteen minutes and thirty nine seconds into the mission. One minute later, RAX will be ejected from a PPod CubeSat dispenser at the rear of the fourth stage, followed a minute later by O/OREOS from another rear-mounted dispenser.

About a minute after O/OREOS separates, the fourth stage will make a 180 degree turn, in order to deploy FASTSAT against the direction of flight. FASTSAT will separate two minutes later, and a minute after that the fourth stage will manoeuvre to an attitude offset from its direction of flight by 150 degrees, and aligned with the elevation of its velocity vector. Four minutes later, FalconSat-5 will separate from the rocket, followed five minutes later by both FASTRAC satellites, which will be deployed together as one spacecraft. Thirty seconds later the rocket will manoeuvre back to align with its direction of flight, and 150 seconds later the HAPS will separate from the fourth stage.

The HAPS will ignite for its first burn one minute after separating from the fourth stage. This first burn will last two minutes and sixteen seconds, placing it into a transfer orbit. Specific times for the remaining flight events have not been given, however the first burn will be followed by a coast phase, lasting approximately fifty minutes. Following this, the HAPS will make a second burn, lasting around three minutes. About three minutes after that burn is complete, the mass simulators will separate from the HAPS. Around seven minutes after the mass simulators have separated, the HAPS will perform either a propellant dump or a depletion burn, and four minutes later it will perform a similar event with its reaction control system, completing the mission.

The target orbit for the deployment of the satellites is a circular low Earth orbit at an altitude of 650 kilometres, and with 72 degrees of inclination. The HAPS and its mass demonstrators are expected to end up in a higher orbit; the target is a circular orbit at an altitude of 1,200 kilometres, however part of the mission is to determine how high it can get. The HAPS burns are not expected to affect the orbit’s inclination.

The launch will take place from Launch Pad 1 of the Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska. LP-1 is the only launch pad at the Kodiak Launch Complex, a commercial spaceport operated by the Alaska Aerospace Corporation.

This is only the second orbital launch to take place from Kodiak, the first being the “Kodiak Star” mission, which saw an Athena I deploy four satellites in September 2001. At the time, it was the final flight of an Athena rocket; however the type was placed back into production earlier this year with Kodiak expected to support some of its launches. The facility has also been used for suborbital launches, including two AITs, two Ares, and eight STARS rockets.

The next launch of a Minotaur IV is expected to occur in the first quarter of next year, with the TacSat-4 spacecraft for the US Naval Research Laboratory. That launch will also take place from Kodiak Island, and will be the first flight of the Minotaur IV+ configuration with a more powerful fourth stage. Also early next year, a Minotaur IV Lite will launch from Vandenberg with the suborbital HTV-2b mission.

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Launch Preview:

Like other members of the Minotaur family of rockets, the Minotaur IV primarily consists of parts taken from retired missiles. It is a derivative of the LGM-118 Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missile, which was retired from service in 2005. The earlier Minotaur I and Minotaur II were both derived from the LGM-30 Minuteman missile, whilst the proposed Minotaur III and IV are both also derived from the Peacekeeper.

Although the launch is suborbital, the Minotaur IV is primarily intended for use as an orbital launch system. It is the latest in a long line of missile-derived launch systems, which have been common both in the United States and in other countries.

The Peacekeeper missile, from which the Minotaur IV is derived, grew out of the Missile-X (MX) programme which was started in the early 1970s. It was originally designed to be deployed from mobile launchers, or to be quickly moved between silos in order to prevent or limit the effects of a first-strike attack on US missile silos.

The design of the Peacekeeper was frozen in 1977, and development was completed in early 1982. By this stage, however, the options for mobile deployment had been dropped, and the Peacekeeper itself was nearly cancelled. In 1983 the US Air Force decided to use existing silos intended for Minuteman missiles, and to develop the Midgetman missile to replace the mobile capacity.

The Peacekeeper made its maiden flight in June 1983, and became operational in 1986, replacing the Titan II. Partial mobile deployment using trains was later re-approved, however the Cold War ended before it became operational in this capacity, and development was cancelled.

Peacekeeper was a four-stage missile, consisting of three solid lower stages; an SR118, an SR119, and an SR120. The fourth stage was the Postboost Axial Thruster, which was propelled by an RS-34 engine burning dinitrogen tetroxide and monomethylhydrazine. It was capable of delivering ten W87 thermonuclear warheads in independently-targeted Mk.21 reentry vehicles.

The Peacekeeper was banned by the START-II treaty in 1993, which led to its early retirement from service. Retirement of missiles began in 2003, and ended on 19 September 2005, with the removal of the last missile, and the deactivation of the 400th Missile Squadron. 114 Peacekeepers were built, of which 51 were launched with two failures. It made its final flight in July 2004.

Minotaur rockets are operated by Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corporation, and are marketed towards the US Government. Because they contain missile components which were provided by the US Government they are prohibited from competing for commercial payloads. The launch is the seventeenth flight of a Minotaur, and all sixteen previous flights have been successful.

The first member of the Minotaur family to fly was the Minotaur I, which made its maiden flight in January 2000, and has to date been used for eight orbital launches. The Minotaur II was the next to fly, in May 2000. It is used for suborbital target missions, and has also been launched eight times.

The other members of the family, the Minotaur III, IV and V, are yet to fly. Of those, the Minotaur III is designed for suborbital missions, the Minotaur IV for missions to low Earth orbit, and the Minotaur V for missions beyond LEO.

The launch will use the Minotaur IV Lite configuration, which is the version of the Minotaur IV designed for suborbital launches. It is a three-stage vehicle, which consists of the three lower stages of the Peacekeeper missile; the SR118, SR119 and SR120.
 
Later launches will use other configurations; the standard Minotaur IV will consist of the same three first stages, and an Orion 38 fourth stage, and the Minotaur IV+ will use a similar configuration, with a Star-48V upper stage instead of the Orion 38.
 
The Minotaur III consists of the same three stages, topped by a Super-HAPS upper stage to improve accuracy, and the Minotaur V uses a Star-48V fourth stage, with a Star-37 fifth stage to provide additional thrust.

Some concerns over the Minotaur IV’s performance have been raised. These relate to a gas generator used on the third stage, which has been discovered to provide some thrust to the vehicle. This has raised concerns that it may cause control problems on some flights.
 
A diffuser has been developed to mitigate this concern, and although the launch wouldn’t have been affected by this problem, the diffuser will be flown in order to test it under flight conditions. This problem has led to significant delays for the SBSS satellite, which was originally intended to fly on the first Minotaur IV. It is currently scheduled for launch in July, but the US Air Force was reported to be considering moving it to a Delta II.

The Hypersonic Test Vehicle 2a (HTV-2a) spacecraft is designed to re-enter the atmosphere and fly across the Pacific Ocean at speeds of around 20,000 kilometres per hour (13,000 mph, in excess of Mach 17). The flight will last around thirty minutes, and include manoeuvres to evaluate the flight dynamics of the vehicle.

Once testing is completed, the spacecraft will impact the Pacific Ocean, to the North of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Its debris will not be recovered.

The Hypersonic Test Vehicles are part of the Force Application and Launch from Continental United States, or FALCON programme, which is being coordinated by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It was originally to have consisted of three phases, HTV-1, HTV-2, and HTV-3; however both HTV-1 and HTV-3 have been cancelled. A second HTV-2 flight, HTV-2b, is scheduled for launch in 2011, and will also use a Minotaur IV Lite.

Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 8, from which the Minotaur will launch, was built in the late 1990s as part of the California Spaceport. The complex is operated by Spaceport Systems International. In 2005, a permanent gantry was erected at the pad. Five launches have made from the complex since 2000, all of Minotaur I rockets, the most recent of which occurred in 2006.

In addition to Minotaur I and Minotaur IV launches, SLC-8 is being considered for future launches by Athena rockets, following Lockheed Martin’s recent decision to bring the Athena back into production. Previous Athena launches from Vandenberg used Space Launch Complex 6, which is now used by the Delta IV.

Athena launches are only likely to be made from Vandenberg if payload requirements prevent the launch occurring from the other Athena launch sites at Cape Canaveral, Wallops Island, and Kodiak Island.

Two or three more Minotaur IV launches are scheduled for 2010. The first of these is currently scheduled for 8 July, carrying the Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) satellite. This launch will also occur from SLC-8 at Vandenberg.

In September, a launch from Kodiak Island will orbit the FASTSAT, FASTRAC-A, FASTRAC-B, FalconSat-4, O/OREOS and RAX satellites. A further launch from Kodiak, with the TacSat-4 satellite, was planned for later in 2010; however it is unclear whether it has since been delayed.

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It was via the earlier TacSat-2 mission that the Minotaur I demonstrated its ability to provide a near-term, low-risk solution to the emerging Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) requirements. The mission was launched less than seven months after the contract award.

Minotaur I made its inaugural flight in January 2000, successfully delivering several small military and university satellites into orbit and marking the first-ever use of residual US Government Minuteman boosters in a space launch vehicle.

It’s those Minuteman rocket motors that serve as the vehicle’s first and second stages. Minotaur’s third and fourth stages, structures and payload fairing are common with Orbital’s Pegasus XL rocket. The vehicle also boasts improved avionics systems, including Modular Avionics Control Hardware (MACH), which is now used on most of Orbital’s launch vehicles.

Minotaur I made its inaugural flight in January 2000, successfully delivering several small military and university satellites into orbit and marking the first-ever use of residual US Government Minuteman boosters in a space launch vehicle.

The Wallops facility holds an important part of Orbital’s future, with work continuing on a neighboring pad for the Taurus II medium class launch vehicle, which will be tasked with resupplying the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract.

TacSat-3 is the third in a series of US military reconnaissance satellites.

The TacSat-3 spacecraft is a pioneer of the emerging operationally responsive space (ORS) program, and designed to meet the needs of U.S. forces for flexible, affordable and responsive satellite systems.

The TacSat-3 program is a joint effort of the Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Air Force Space Command, the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Operationally Responsive Space Office (ORS), the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate.

The satellite features three revolutionary trials: the Raytheon Company-built Advanced Responsive Tactically Effective Military Imaging Spectrometer hyperspectral imager, the Office of Naval Research’s Satellite Communications Package, and the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Avionics Experiment.

This trio of payloads will offer real-time imagery (within 10 minutes of collection), sea-based information transmitted from ocean buoys and plug-and-play avionics to assist the warfighter in keeping one step ahead of the adversary.

The hyperspectral sensor on TacSat-3 has the potential to give combat troops on the ground an revolutionary new reconnaissance capability in theatee.

Three cubesats will be launched as secondary payloads on the TacSat-3 mission. The satellites, which contain their own power and data systems, are four-inch cubes that weigh 2.2 pounds each.

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