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

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

for the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...

(DoD)

space science Space is the boundless Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional extent in which Physical body, objects and events have relative position (geometry), position and direction (geometry), direction. In classical physics, physical space is often ...

and

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scie ...

community. STP is managed by a group within the Advanced Systems and Development Directorate, a directorate of the Space and Missile Systems Center of the

United States Space Force The United States Space Force (USSF) is the Space force, space service branch of the United States Armed Forces, U.S. Armed Forces, one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and the world's only inde ...

. STP provides spaceflight via the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

(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 (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 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. Its official program na ...

and ISS.

STS-105 STS-105 was a mission of the Space Shuttle '' Discovery'' to the International Space Station, launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, 10 August 2001. This mission was ''Discoverys final mission until STS-114, because ''Discovery'' was g ...

delivered and successfully deployed the Materials International Space Station Experiment (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 agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

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 or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and syste ...

. This was the first orbital launch out of

Kodiak Island Kodiak Island (Alutiiq language, Alutiiq: ''Qikertaq''), 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 ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

. 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 organization operated by the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of aerospace warfighting technologies, p ...

's (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate developed a secondary payload adapter ring for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV), which can host up to six microsatellites. STP also worked closely with NASA and the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

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 ...

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 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 (NRL) launched the Coriolis satellite, a risk-reduction effort for NPOESS, aboard a Titan II launch vehicle.

2007

On 9 March 2007, six satellites were 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 m ...

(LEO) on a shared

Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas launch vehicle family. It was originally designed by Lockheed Martin, now being operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Lockheed Marti ...

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

) *

MidSTAR-1 MidSTAR-1 is an artificial satellite produced by the United States Naval Academy Small Satellite Program. It was sponsored by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Space Test Program (STP), and was launched on March 9, 2007 at 03:10 U ...

, (

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) 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 Secretary of ...

) *

FalconSat3 FalconSAT is the United States Air Force Academy's (USAFA) small satellite engineering program. Satellites are designed, built, tested, and operated by Academy cadets. The project is administered by the USAFA Space Systems Research Center und ...

, (

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Un ...

) *

STPSat 1 The Space Test Program (STP) is the primary provider of spaceflight for the United States Department of Defense (DoD) space science and technology community. STP is managed by a group within the Advanced Systems and Development Directorate, a ...

, 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 of ...

, (

Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, i ...

) The satellites shared the launcher through use of an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter ( ESPA). United Launch Alliance provided a video feed of the launch.

2008

The C/NOFS (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 LGM-118 Peacekeeper ICBM. It is operated by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, and made its maiden flight on 22 April 2010, carr ...

, known as

STP-S26 Minotaur IV, also known as Peacekeeper SLV and OSP-2 PK is an active expendable launch system derived from the LGM-118 Peacekeeper ICBM. It is operated by Northrop Grumman Innovation 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 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 Launch Com ...

. 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 toxic unless handled in solution as, for example, hydrazin ...

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 The Space Test Program (STP) is the primary provider of spaceflight for the United States Department of Defense (DoD) space science and technology community. STP is managed by a group within the Advanced Systems and Development Directorate, a ...

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 The Minotaur I, or just Minotaur is an American expendable launch system derived from the LGM-30 Minuteman, Minuteman II missile. It is used to launch Small satellite, small satellites for the Us government, US Government, and is a member of the ...

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's Space Systems (previously known as SpaceDev) 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. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

Falcon Heavy Falcon Heavy is a partially reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle that is produced by SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer. The rocket consists of two strap-on boosters made from Falcon 9 first stages, a center core also made from a Falc ...

on 25 June 2019. Included was COSMIC-2, 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 coverage, such that at any time everywhere on Earth at least one ...

is to provide radio occultation 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 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 De ...

. 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 payloads, including E-TBEx, PSAT, TEPCE, and ELaNa 15 CubeSats. LightSail 2 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 ...

2021

The STP-3 mission was originally scheduled to be launched on a ULA

Atlas V 551 Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas launch vehicle family. It was originally designed by Lockheed Martin, now being operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Lockheed Martin ...

in 2020. It was launched on 7 December 2021 at 10:19 UTC. It 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. STPSat-6 is destined for an orbit slightly above the geostationary orbit. SpaceX bid a

in December 2016 for this launch.

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