The Space Test Program (STP) is the primary provider of

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such ...

for the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

(DoD)

space science Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

and

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

community. STP is managed by a group within the

Advanced Systems and Development Directorate The Advanced Systems and Development Directorate (SMC/AD) is a directorate of the United States Space Force's Space and Missile Systems Center, located at Kirtland Air Force Base. It has operating divisions at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Hill A ...

, a directorate of the

Space and Missile Systems Center Space Systems Command (SSC) is the United States Space Force's research and development, space development, Military acquisition, acquisition, space launch, launch, and Military logistics, logistics field command. It is headquartered at Los An ...

of the

United States Space Force The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space force branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces, armed forces of the United States and one of the eight uniformed services of the Unite ...

. STP provides spaceflight via the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(ISS), piggybacks, secondary payloads and dedicated launch services.

Past activities

STP has actually been in existence for 50 years as of 2019, with several thousand launches it has been responsible for. For example, the initial experiments that led to the modern

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide ge ...

(GPS) satellite constellation were STP-launched projects.

2001

During August 2001, STP conducted two successful activities using the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

and ISS.

STS-105 STS-105 was the 30th mission of Space Shuttle ''Discovery'', in which Discovery went to the International Space Station. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 10 August 2001. This mission was ''Discoverys final mission until STS ...

delivered and successfully deployed the

Materials International Space Station Experiment The Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) is a series of experiments mounted externally on the International Space Station (ISS) that investigates the effects of long-term exposure of materials to the harsh space environment. T ...

(MISSE) externally on the ISS. MISSE was a passive materials exposure experiment, was the first external experiment on ISS. In addition, STS-105 retrieved and returned MACE II (Middeck Active Control Experiment II) from the ISS. MACE II was the first internal experiment on ISS and was operated for nearly a year. On 30 September 2001, STP and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

launched the ''Kodiak Star'' mission on an

Athena I The Athena I, known as the Lockheed Launch Vehicle (LLV) at the time of its first flight and Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle (LMLV) at the time of its second flight, was an American small expendable launch system which was used for four launches b ...

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

. This was the first orbital launch out of

Kodiak Island Kodiak Island (, ) is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. The largest island in the Kodiak Archipelago, Kodiak Island is the second largest island in the Un ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. In addition to NASA's Starshine III spacecraft, this mission included three small DoD spacecraft which tested a variety of new space technologies. STP and the

Air Force Research Laboratory The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research and development detachment of the United States Air Force Air Force Materiel Command, Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of direct- ...

's (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate developed a secondary payload adapter ring for the

Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle National Security Space Launch (NSSL) is a program of the United States Space Force (USSF) intended to assure access to space for United States Department of Defense and other United States government payloads. The program is managed by the Assure ...

(EELV), which can host up to six

microsatellites A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organism's genome. T ...

. STP also worked closely with NASA and the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

on the Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer / Indian Ocean Meteorology and Oceanography Imager project. In December 2001,

STS-108 STS-108 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle '' Endeavour''. Its primary objective was to deliver supplies to and help maintain the ISS. STS-108 was the 12th shuttle flight to visit the In ...

hosted the Shuttle Ionospheric Modification with Pulsed Localized Exhaust (SIMPLEX) experiment. SIMPLEX observed ionospheric disturbances created by the Space Shuttle engine burns via ground radar sites and supported plume technology, plume signature, and space weather modeling.

2002

SIMPLEX flew again on

STS-110 STS-110 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on 8–19 April 2002 flown by Space Shuttle ''Atlantis''. The main purpose was to install the S0 Truss segment, which forms the backbone of the truss structure on the ...

in April 2002. STP also worked to obtain a 1-year radio frequency license extension for the Picosat experiment launched on the ''Kodiak Star'' mission, in September 2001.

2003

On 6 January 2003, STP and the

Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Located in Washington, DC, it was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, appl ...

(NRL) launched the

Coriolis Coriolis may refer to: * Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis (1792–1843), French mathematician, mechanical engineer and scientist * Coriolis force In physics, the Coriolis force is a pseudo force that acts on objects in motion within a frame of ref ...

satellite, a risk-reduction effort for

NPOESS The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) was to be the United States' next-generation satellite system that would monitor the Earth's weather, atmosphere, oceans, land, and near-space environment. NPOESS sate ...

, aboard a

Titan II The Titan II was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the Glenn L. Martin Company from the earlier Titan I missile. Titan II was originally designed and used as an ICBM, but was later adapted as a medium-lift space ...

launch vehicle.

2007

On 9 March 2007, six satellites were launched into

low Earth Orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

(LEO) on a shared

Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas (rocket family), Atlas launch vehicle family. It was developed by Lockheed Martin and has been operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2006. Primarily used to ...

launch vehicle on the STP-1 mission. The satellites were: *

Orbital Express Orbital Express: ASTRO and NEXTSat Orbital Express was a space mission managed by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and a team led by engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The Orbital Express p ...

: ASTRO and NextSat, (

DARPA The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adva ...

) * MidSTAR-1, (

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

) * FalconSat3, (

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academies, United States service academy in Air Force Academy, Colorado, Air Force Academy Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. I ...

) * STPSat 1, USAF's Space Test Program *

CFESat CFESat (Cibola Flight Experiment Satellite) was a satellite that examined radio spectra for ionospheric and lightning studies, using field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). As well as science observation, the mission aimed to demonstrate the use o ...

, (

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development Laboratory, laboratories of the United States Department of Energy National Laboratories, United States Department of Energy ...

) The satellites shared the launcher through use of an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter (

ESPA Espa is a village in Stange Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located along the European route E6 highway near the southern part of the large lake Mjøsa, about southeast of the village of Tangen. Its population ( SSB 2005 ...

United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance, LLC (ULA) is an American launch service provider formed in December 2006 as a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Space and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. The company designs, assembles, sells and launches rockets ...

provided a video feed of the launch.

2008

The

C/NOFS C/NOFS, or Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System was a USAF satellite developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate to investigate and forecast scintillations in the Earth's ionosphere. It was la ...

(Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System) satellite, which was launched on 16 April 2008, was operated by the Space Test Program.

2010

The third

Minotaur IV Minotaur IV, also known as Peacekeeper SLV and OSP-2 PK is an active expendable launch system derived from the retired LGM-118 Peacekeeper ICBM. It is operated by Northrop Grumman Space Systems, and made its maiden flight on 22 April 2010 car ...

, known as

STP-S26 Minotaur IV, also known as Peacekeeper SLV and OSP-2 PK is an active expendable launch system derived from the retired LGM-118 Peacekeeper ICBM. It is operated by Northrop Grumman Space Systems, and made its maiden flight on 22 April 2010 carr ...

, was successfully launched in November 2010. This was the 26th small launch vehicle mission in STP's 40-year history of flying DoD space experiments, STP-S26 launched at 01:45

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

on 20 November 2010 from the

Kodiak Launch Complex Kodiak may refer to: Places * Kodiak, Alaska, a city located on Kodiak island * Kodiak, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Kodiak Archipelago, in southern Alaska * Kodiak Island, the largest island of the Kodiak archipelago ** Kodiak Launc ...

. The launch facility contractor was Alaska Aerospace Corporation (AAC). The payloads were released in a orbit, before the

Hydrazine Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a simple pnictogen hydride, and is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour. Hydrazine is highly hazardous unless handled in solution as, for example, hydraz ...

Auxiliary Propulsion System ( HAPS) upper stage, by

Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...

, was demonstrated by deploying two ballast payloads into a orbit. The payload included the STPSat-2 spacecraft. STPSat-2 had 3 three experimental payloads: SPEX (Space Phenomenology Experiment) consisting of two payloads to evaluate sensor compatibility for the space environment, and ODTML (Ocean Data Telemetry MicroSatLink) a two-way data relay from terrestrial (ocean or land) sensors to users.

2013

STPSat 3 is a copy of the STPSat-2 satellite, adapted to carry six experiments, including a module designed to host various space situational awareness sensors and a pair of space environment sensors. STPSat 3 launched on 19 November 2013, on the ORS-3 Minotaur 1 launch, along with 28 CubeSats.spaceflightinsider.com
ORS-3 and Minotaur 1 launch tiny CubeSats full of big promise
/ref> STPSat-3 carries five payloads, including "Integrated Miniaturized Electrostatic Analyzer Reflight (iMESA-R), Joint Component Research (J-CORE), Strip Sensor Unit (SSU), Small Wind and Temperature Spectrometer (SWATS), and TSI Calibration Transfer Experiment (TCTE)". It also carries a de-orbit module.

2014

As announced on 14 October 2014, the

awarded

Sierra Nevada Corporation Sierra Nevada Corporation (also styled SNC) is an American aerospace, defense, electronics, engineering and manufacturing corporation that specializes in aircraft modification, integration and other space technologies. The corporation contracts ...

's Space Systems (previously known as

SpaceDev SpaceDev, a part of the "Space Systems Business" of Sierra Nevada Corporation, is prominent for its spaceflight and Microsatellite (spaceflight), microsatellite work. It designed and built components for the hybrid rocket motors for Paul Allen ...

) with a contract to develop and build a next-generation science and technology demonstration satellite, known as STPSat-5, for their Space Test Program.

2019

The STP-2 (DoD Space Test Program) payload launched aboard a

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

Falcon Heavy Falcon Heavy is a super heavy-lift launch vehicle with partial reusability that can carry cargo into Earth orbit and beyond. It is designed, manufactured and launched by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket consists of a center core ...

on 25 June 2019. Included was

COSMIC-2 COSMIC-2 also known as FORMOSAT-7, is the constellation of satellites for meteorology, ionosphere, climatology, and space weather research. FORMOSAT-7 is a joint US-Taiwanese project including National Space Organization (NSPO) on the Taiwanes ...

, a cluster of six satellites, with a mass of each. The primary role of the COSMIC-2

satellite constellation A satellite constellation is a group of artificial satellites working together as a system. Unlike a single satellite, a constellation can provide permanent global or near-global pass (spaceflight), coverage, such that at any time everywhere on E ...

is to provide

radio occultation Radio occultation (RO) is a remote sensing technique used for measuring the physical properties of a planetary atmosphere or ring system. Satellites carrying onboard GNSS-Radio occultation instruments include CHAMP, GRACE and GRACE-FO, MetOp an ...

data with an average latency of 45 minutes. The six satellites were placed on an orbit with an inclination of 24° to 28.5° with plans for them to move eventually to six separate orbital planes with 60° separation between them. The payload stack was integrated using an ESPA ring. Two ESPA Grande rings were used to mount the six COSMIC-2 satellites beneath the upper payload adapter hosting the DSX payload and avionics modules. STP-2 also deployed a number of CubeSats as

secondary payload Secondary payload, also known as rideshare payload, is a smaller-sized Payload (air and space craft), payload space transport, transported to orbital spaceflight, orbit on a launch vehicle that is mostly paid for—and with the date and time of l ...

s, including E-TBEx, PSAT, TEPCE, and ELaNa 15 CubeSats.

LightSail 2 LightSail is a project to demonstrate controlled solar sailing within low Earth orbit using a CubeSat. The project was developed by The Planetary Society, a global non-profit organization devoted to space exploration. It consists of two spacecr ...

is carried by the Prox-1 nanosatellite. Other satellites and payloads included Oculus-ASR nanosatellite, GPIM, and the

Deep Space Atomic Clock The Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC) was a miniaturized, ultra-precise mercury-ion atomic clock for precise radio navigation in deep space. DSAC was designed to be orders of magnitude more stable than existing navigation clocks, with a drift of ...

. The STPSat-4 satellite was launched on 2 November 2019 onboard the

Cygnus NG-12 NG-12, previously known as OA-12, was the thirteenth flight of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus (spacecraft), Cygnus and its twelfth Commercial Resupply Services flight to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA. T ...

mission and was subsequently deployed to orbit from the

ISS The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), ESA (Europe), ...

on 29 January 2020. The satellite hosted a variety of experimental technologies, including: iMESA-R, a

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

mission to measure plasma densities and energies; MATRS, a modular solar array that partially failed to deploy; NISTEx, an inferometric star tracker; NTE, a passive retroreflector. The satellite decayed from orbit on 4 October 2022.

2021

(SpaceX had bid a

in December 2016 for this launch.) The STP-3 mission was originally scheduled to be launched on a ULA Atlas V 551

in 2020. It was launched on 7 December 2021 at 10:19

. STP-3 includes the STPSat-6 satellite with the Space and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System-3 (SABRS-3) for

National Nuclear Security Administration The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is a United States federal agency responsible for safeguarding national security through the military application of nuclear science. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, and ef ...

(NNSA),

Laser Communications Relay Demonstration The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) is a NASA mission that will test laser communication in space for extremely long distances, between Earth and geosynchronous orbit. After being integrated into STPSat-6, a part of STP-3, ...

(LCRD) payload for NASA, and seven secondary payloads for the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

. STPSat-6 is destined for an orbit slightly above the geostationary orbit.

2023

The STP-27VPD mission was launched on

LauncherOne LauncherOne was a two-stage orbital launch vehicle developed and flown by Virgin Orbit that had operational flights from 2021 to 2023, after being in development from 2007 to 2020. It was an air-launched rocket, designed to carry smallsat ...

's first mission from

Spaceport Cornwall Cornwall Airport Newquay is the main commercial airport for Cornwall, England located at Mawgan in Pydar, northeast of the town of Newquay on Cornwall's north coast. Its runway was operated by RAF St Mawgan before 2008, and is now owned by ...

(and last mission overall) on 9 January 2023. The launch resulted in a failure, with the rocket and all its payloads being destroyed in-flight. The mission consisted of two pairs of cubesats from both British and American agencies. The CIRCE 1 and 2 cubesats were developed by the

DSTL The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is an executive agency of the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is "to maximise the impact of science and technology for the defence and security of the UK". The a ...

and the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

using 6U platforms provided by Blue Canyon Technologies, and they would've flown in formation to study short-timescale dynamics in the ionosphere. The Prometheus 2A and 2B cubesats have been built by In-Space Missions for the

UK Ministry of Defence The Ministry of Defence (MOD or MoD) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for implementing the defence policy set by the government and serves as the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. ...

and the NRO and they would've provided a test platform for monitoring radio signals. The STP-CR2301 mission was successfully launched on a

Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon 9 Block 5 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, human-rating certification, human-rated, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. I ...

rocket on 12 June 2023 as part of the Transporter-8 rideshare mission. The mission consisted of two Modular Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (MISR) cubesats to demonstrate two-way communications with ground devices and the XVI cubesat to test the capacity of the Link-16 network to communicate to space.

References

External links

List of all Space Test Program Missions
{{Falcon rocket launches Space agencies United States Air Force Military space program of the United States