TacSat-1

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TacSat-1 is an experimental satellite built by the USAF's Air Force Research Laboratory on behalf of the United States Department of Defense (DOD) Office of Force Transformation (OFT). The second satellite in the series, TacSat-2, has already been launched. TacSat-1 is the planned payload of the third launch of the SpaceX Falcon 1.

TacSat-1 will carry a variety of experimental payloads.^[1] Much of the payload software was implemented through the use of BASH (Bourne again shell) scripts operating on the "Copperfield-2" general-purpose computer system aboard the spacecraft.^[2]

Contents 1 Purpose 2 Launch 3 Systems 3.1 Platform 3.2 Camera / Telescope 3.3 Signals Intelligence 4 Orbit 5 Developers 6 References

[edit] Purpose

The TacSat series of experimental spacecraft are designed to allow military commanders on a battlefield to request and obtain imagery and other data from a satellite as it passes overhead. Collected data will be delivered to field commanders in minutes rather than hours or days. The sensor on TacSat-1 can collect color images sharp enough to distinguish ground objects as small as 1 meter in diameter.^[3]

[edit] Launch

TacSat-1 is scheduled for launch in 2007 using a SpaceX Falcon 1 launcher. TacSat-1 was initially planned for launch in January 2004 but funding shortfalls and development delays precluded this date.

[edit] Systems

The TacSat series were planned to use commercial or available launchers, and largely off-the-shelf components, in order to reduce costs.

This section may be inaccurate - it describes TacSat-2, but perhaps not TacSat-1.

[edit] Platform

The space platform was built by MicroSat Systems of Littleton, Colorado.

[edit] Camera / Telescope

The developers originally asked for bids from contractors for a camera. These were priced at around USD$10 million. The team then bought a high-end amateur telescope costing around $20,000 and added a camera sensor ($2 million), delivering a sensor capable of 1m ground resolution.

[edit] Signals Intelligence

A signals intelligence payload, called the Target Indicator Experiment, detects radio wave emitters and can be used in concert with receivers on other platsoms such as the US Navy's P-3C maritime patrol aircraft.

Other systems include:

• RoadRunner Onboard Processing Experiment (ROPE)
• Common Data Link (CDL)
• Autonomous Operations
• Hall Effect Thruster (HET)
• Propulsion Instrument Electronics (PIE) sensor suite
• Inertial Stellar Compass (ISC)
• Low Power Transceiver (LPT)
• Integrated GPS Occultation Receiver (IGOR)
• Atmospheric Density Spectrometer (ADS)
• Experimental Solar Array

[edit] Orbit

The orbit is planned to have a height of 410km at an inclination of 40 degrees to the equator.

[edit] Developers

Apart from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), other organisations participating included:

• DOD Space Test Program (Space and Missile Systems Center’s Space Development and Test Wing),
• Naval Research Laboratory,
• Army Space Program Office,
• Air Force Space Command
• Space Warfare Center
• NASA
• Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

[edit] References

• USAF, TacSat-2 Micro Satellite, Air Force Research Laboratory, 2006-09-01.
• TacSat-2 Mission Information. NASA.