MTI

Launch data: Designation 26102 / 00014A Launch date 12 Mar 2000 - 09:29 UT Launch site  Va, SLC-576E Launch vehicle Taurus-1110(#5) Mission Government/Military: Technology Development (Remote sensing) Sun-Synchronous LEO orbit on Mar 12.44, 2000: Perigee / Apogee  573 x 611 km Eccentricity  0.003 Inclination  97.4° Period  96.52 min

Description:

• The Multispectral Thermal Imager (MTI), USAF Space Test Program mission P97-3, was launched by Orbital Sciences Taurus on Mar 12. MTI is a Sandia Labs mission to test out a multispectral imager for treaty monitoring applications. The mission used a Taurus 1110 rocket with a 63-inch fairing and a Peacekeeper first stage. The satellite is in a 577 x 613 km x 97.4 deg orbit.
• The MTI satellite carries a sophisticated telescope that collects images of the Earth, during the day and at night, in 15 spectral bands, ranging from the visible to long-wave infrared. The unique imaging instrument was designed and built by a government and industry team led by Sandia National Laboratories and was calibrated in a special facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory. It gives the satellite the ability to "see" reflected and thermally radiated electromagnetic waves not visible to the human eye with performance parameters previously achievable only in laboratory settings. Features 5 m VNIR & 20 m TIR resolution.
• The satellite also carries a High-energy X-ray Spectrometer (HXRS) sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Environment Center and the Czech Republic's Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences, and developed by Space Devices, Ltd. of the Czech Republic. This instrument will collect data needed to better understand a rare species of solar flare associated with high-energy particle storms that can endanger astronauts and damage space equipment.
• Downlink at 401.565 MHz (1 W) and 2.210 GHz (5 W).
• Primary objective is to demonstrate advanced multispectral and thermal imaging, image processing, and associated technologies that could be used in future systems for detecting and characterizing facilities producing weapons of mass destruction.