USA-165 or XSS-11 (Experimental Satellite System-11) is a small, washing-machine-sized, low-cost 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 test technology for proximity operations. In particular, the satellite was designed to demonstrate "autonomous rendezvous and proximity maneuvers." In other words, it would approach, investigate, and photograph other spacecraft in Earth orbit. It would help test the feasibility of in-space inspection and repair. The spacecraft was also designed to test systems that would allow the spacecraft to maneuver autonomously. USA-165 was built by Lockheed Martin and weighed 125 kg with an excess of 600 m/s

delta-v Delta-''v'' (more known as " change in velocity"), symbolized as ∆''v'' and pronounced ''delta-vee'', as used in spacecraft flight dynamics, is a measure of the impulse per unit of spacecraft mass that is needed to perform a maneuver such a ...

. USA-165 was launched into

Low Earth Orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

on April 11, 2005, on a

Minotaur rocket The Minotaur is a family of United States solid fuel launch vehicles derived from converted Minuteman and Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). They are built by Northrop Grumman via contract with the Air Force Space and M ...

and remained in its primary orbit for over eighteen months, but then in December 2006 it was maneuvered into a disposal orbit and lost to satellite spotters. USA-165 was later rediscovered by amateur satellite watcher Kevin Fetter. The satellite re-entered the atmosphere on November 11, 2013. The NASA

GRAIL The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) was an American lunar science mission in NASA's Discovery Program which used high-quality gravitational field mapping of the Moon to determine its interior structure. The two small spacecraf ...

spacecraft design was based on XSS-11 design.

References

External links

Space.com NewsXSS-11 micro satelliteLOST AND FOUND: XSS-11 SPYSAT
Spacecraft launched in 2005 Spacecraft launched by Minotaur rockets USA satellites Spacecraft which reentered in 2013 {{US-spacecraft-stub

See also

References

External links