NFIRE

Launch data: Designation  31140 / 07014A Launch date  24 Apr 2007 - 06:48 UT Launch site  Wi, LA-0B Launch vehicle  Minotaur-1 Mission  Tech Earth orbit on: Perigee / Apogee  366 x 437 km Inclination  48.23° Period  92.59 min

Mission details:

• The NFIRE satellite was launched on Apr 24 by a Minotaur I rocket from Wallops Island. Orbital's Minotaur I consists of the first two stages of a Minuteman II ICBM topped by the second and third stages of a Pegasus XL. For this flight it used the larger 1.5-meter diameter fairing first flown on Tacsat-2 last year.
• NFIRE (Near Field Infrared Experiment) belongs to the US Missile Defense Agency; its primary payload is the Track Sensor Payload which will observe missiles specially launched to fly close to it, and attempt to distinguish between the missile itself and its hot rocket exhaust plume - a technology relevant to proposed missile interceptors. NFIRE also has a secondary payload for laser communications and a hydrazine propulsion system. The spacecraft, built by General Dynamics C4 (formerly Spectrum Astro), is expected to reach a 495 km orbit with a 49 deg inclination.
• Following its launch on Apr 24 into a 252 x 459 km x 48.2 deg orbit, the US Missile Defense Agency's NFIRE spacecraft reached its operational altitude at 489 x 497 km on May 18.
• On Aug 9, the orbit was lowered again to 243 x 487 km and by Aug 23 it was in a 219 x 450 km orbit.
• NFIRE carries a German laser communications terminal, Tesat, as a secondary payload, but its main instrument is TSP, the Track Sensor Payload, which includes visible and short, medium and long wave infrared sensors to track missiles and their rocket plumes, and is designed to distinguish between the missile and its plume. The satellite is 494 kg full 380 kg dry, 2.7m long and 1.3m diameter.
• In a major test of the satellite, a Minotaur II rocket, TLV-7, was launched at 0830 UTC on Aug 23 from Vandenberg's LF06 silo as NFIRE Mission 2a. The Minotaur II is a three-stage Minuteman 2 missile refurbished by Orbital Sciences with a new guidance and payload section, and has been used for a number of suborbital missile defense tests. (The Minotaur 1 is an orbital launch vehicle which uses the first two stages of a Minuteman 2, topped with two stages taken from the Pegasus space launch vehicle). On each of the two planned Mission 2 flights, the rocket will be aimed to pass within 4 and 20 km of the NFIRE satellite while its third stage motor is burning, allowing NFIRE to get a close look at the rocket and its exhaust. The Missile Defense Agency reported that the Mission 2a flyby was successful.