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1993-05-03
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PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. (818) 354-5011
Contact: Mary A. Hardin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 30, 1993
The Miniature Seeker Technology Integration (MSTI)
satellite, JPL's first foray into the "faster, better, cheaper"
spacecraft development concept, has proven to be more successful
and proficient than expected.
MSTI was built by JPL for the Strategic Defense Initiative
Organization (SDIO) as a testbed for infrared sensors. The
satellite was launched on Nov. 21, 1992 from California's
Vandenberg Air Force Base.
MSTI is JPL's first low-cost, rapid development satellite
and it was completed in less than a year, on time and under
budget.
"We did MSTI for $15 million and we did it on schedule,"
said E. Kane Casani, former MSTI project manager and now manager
of the Implementation Development Office within the JPL Office of
Flight Projects.
"We expected the mission to last about four or six days,"
said Bob Metzger, JPL's MSTI project manager, "but three months
after launch, the satellite was still collecting about 2,000
infrared images a day."
Shortly after launch, two stabilizing thrusters became
contaminated and ground controllers put the satellite into a
gentle roll. The solar panel is always pointed toward the sun
and as MSTI rotates, the camera is either pointed toward space or
at Earth.
"We can't control changes to the attitude and orientation of
the satellite, but we do control the operating characteristics of
the system," Metzger said, "The spacecraft has produced a wealth
of scientific data which have been processed by JPL's image
processing facility. We have met and exceeded the original
objectives of the mission."
The MSTI satellite is an octagon structure which is 123
centimeters (48 inches) high, 97 centimeters (38 inches) in
diameter and weighs approximately 168 kilograms (370 pounds).
MSTI was launched into a Sun synchronous polar orbit with an
inclination of 97 degrees. During the primary mission, the
payload, which consists of an infrared sensor assembly, mirror
and drive system, scanned the Earth to obtain background
information to evaluate target and background signature data for
future MSTI flights.
The camera has imaged distinct land mass features on the
Baja California peninsula, various cloud cover patterns and has
detected the firing of a solid-rocket motor at the U.S. Air Force
Phillips Laboratory at California's Edwards Air Force Base. The
detection of the rocket firing was part of a demonstration to
test the feasibility of detecting and tracking missiles using
miniature sensors in space.
JPL is currently producing sophisticated images from the
infrared data which include thermal land and cloud cover maps and
three dimensional perspective views of selected targets.
Simulated video flights over certain areas are also being
produced using techniques that were developed by JPL's planetary
missions.
"MSTI is proof of low-cost rapid development, but many
people don't believe we did so much, so quick and for so little,"
Casani said. "Perhaps we made a mistake by doing the first one
so well," he mused.
JPL continues to be involved with the MSTI image processing
which should be completed in late April. Sometime after that,
the satellite's orbit will have decayed and it is expected to
reenter the atmosphere and burn up.
"We now know we can do these lower-cost, rapid-development
projects," Metzger said "and we can now apply what we've learned
to future missions. We've developed the methodology that should
carry JPL spacecraft design into the 21st century."
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