Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) was a small spacecraft developed by the U.S.

Air Force Research Laboratory The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research organization operated by the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of aerospace warfighting technologies, pl ...

's Space Vehicles Directorate to perform experiments to study the radiation environment in

medium Earth orbit A medium Earth orbit (MEO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an altitude above a low Earth orbit (LEO) and below a high Earth orbit (HEO) – between above sea level.

Spacecraft

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is responsible for the development and execution of the DSX (originally Deployable Structures Experiment), now Demonstration & Science Experiments, also known as Space Science Technology Experiment (SSTE-4), a suite of four science payloads integrated onto a

Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle National Security Space Launch (NSSL) — formerly Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) from 1994 to 2019 — is a program of the United States Space Force (USSF) intended to assure access to space for United States Department of Defense and ...

(EELV)

EELV Secondary Payload Adapter The EELV Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) is an adapter for launching secondary payloads on orbital launch vehicles. Originally developed for US launch vehicles in the 2000s to launch secondary payloads on space missions of the United States Dep ...

(ESPA) ring based three axis stabilized satellite bus nominally slated for launch into a 6000 × 12000 km, 30° inclination, Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) in the 2019 timeframe with one year required and three year desired operational capability. Unlike the traditional ESPA approach, in DSX the experiments and host spacecraft stay attached and do not deploy. After the primary satellite in the EELV is deployed, the DSX ESPA separates from the EELV 2nd stage booster to become a free-flyer spacecraft. To address the space access aspect of the rapid-response problem, DSX will utilize an EELV Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) capability as a platform for highly-capable small and medium free-flying satellites (or ESPASats) that have plentiful and relatively inexpensive launch opportunities on EELV as secondary payloads. One deployable boom measured 80 meters and a second measured 16 meters, making DSX one of the largest deployable structures built to operate on orbit.

Payload

DSX conducted four experiments: * Wave Particle Interaction Experiment (WPIx) * Space Weather Experiment (PWx) * Space Environmental Effects Experiment (SFx) * Adaptive Controls Experiment (ACE)

Mission

AFRL kept the satellite in operation for nearly two years, rather than the one year planned, using it to conduct more than 1,300 experiments. The DSX mission was successfully completed on 31 May 2021. The spacecraft was passivated rather than deorbited due to its high orbit.

References

Spacecraft launched in 2019 SpaceX military payloads Air Force Research Laboratory projects Satellites of the United States {{US-spacecraft-stub