Midcourse Space Experiment

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Midcourse Space Experiment
Midcourse Space Experiment
Country: United StatesUnited States United States
Operator: BMDO
COSPAR-ID : 1996-024A
Mission dates
Dimensions: 2700 kg
Begin: April 24, 1996, 12:27 UTC
Starting place: Vandenberg Air Force Base SLC-2W
Launcher: Delta 7920-10 D235
Orbit data
Rotation time : 103.1 min
Orbit inclination : 99.4 °
Apogee height :  907 km
Perigee height :  897 km

Midcourse Space Experiment ( MSX ) was a military satellite that was also used to perform astronomical observations in the infrared .

The satellite of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) was developed as part of the American missile defense program and was mainly used to test the tracking of ICBMs in their mid-flight phase, between launch and re-entry into the earth's atmosphere. MSX was launched into low, near-sun-synchronous Earth orbit on April 24, 1996 with a Delta rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base .

The SPIRIT III experiment on MSX was in operation for the first ten months of the mission and was used for astronomical observations. It had a telescope with an aperture of 33 cm, cooled with solid hydrogen to 11-12 Kelvin, with observations at five wavelengths (4.3 µm, 8.28 µm, 12.13 µm, 14.65 µm and 21.3 µm) ) were carried out.

The most important astronomical results from MSX include images of the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy and the areas not covered by the IRAS sky survey.

  • Instrument section from MSX

  • MSX in the clean room during the start preparations

  • Delta-7920-10 with MSX during start-up preparations

  • Start of MSX

Web links

Commons : Midcourse Space Experiment  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files