Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
U.S. military weather satellite program with multiple on-orbit breakups.
The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) is a United States Department of Defense program that monitors meteorological, oceanographic, and solar-terrestrial physics. It is managed by the United States Space Force, with on-orbit operations provided by NOAA. The program's originally classified mission was revealed in March 1973.
Quick Facts
- Country
- United States
- Organization
- United States Space Force
- Purpose
- Earth monitoring
- First flight
- DMSP-1 F2; 23 August 1962
- Launch site
- Vandenberg Space Force Base
Facts from the source article.
History
In the 1960s, the U.S. military began a weather satellite program separate from the civil program, later known as the DMSP. Knowledge of its existence was initially limited to need-to-know personnel, as Congress had assigned a substantial budget to the civil program and a second military program would have been hard to justify. Early DMSP systems provided radio return of cloud-cover imagery to support U.S. high-resolution photographic reconnaissance and surveillance missions that used film-return systems. The satellites operated in Sun-synchronous orbits, passing over the north and south poles and viewing different strips of Earth at the same local time each day. With periods of roughly 101.0 minutes, they orbited Earth 14.3 times in 24 hours, covering the entire surface twice daily. Images were received by two command and readout stations at retired Nike missile sites near Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington State and Loring Air Force Base in Maine, then sent to Air Force Global Weather Central at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. Meteorologists processed the images into mosaics of cloud patterns for flight crews and commanders. Later advancements enabled visual-spectrum data collection down to half-moonlit scenes, infrared night viewing, and increased on-board processing with multiple computers and expanded power.
Losses of satellites
In 2004, DMSP Block 5D-2 F-11 (S-12), launched in 1991 and retired in 1995, exploded in orbit, generating debris. The fragmentation was likely due to a battery explosion or residual fuel in the attitude control system; propulsion was later identified as the assessed cause. On 3 February 2015, DMSP-F13, launched in 1995, exploded while in Sun-synchronous polar orbit, leaving a debris field of at least 43 to 100 large fragments and more than 50,000 pieces smaller than 1 millimeter. The Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Space Force Base monitors the debris and issues conjunction warnings if necessary. The cause was the rupturing of an onboard battery due to a design flaw; no collision occurred. On 11 February 2016, a power failure left both the command-and-control subsystem and its backup unable to reach the satellite's processor, and DMSP 5D-3/F19 was considered lost. The satellite's data remained usable until it ceased pointing sensors toward Earth. In October 2016, DMSP-F12, launched in 1994 and decommissioned in 2008, exploded in orbit. It had a similar battery to the one that exploded in DMSP-13, raising suspicions of a battery problem, though the cause was unknown at the time; very little debris, just one trackable piece, was generated.
Launch history
DMSP was initially known as Program 35. The first successful launch of a Program 35 spacecraft used a Scout X-2 rocket from Point Arguello near Vandenberg Space Force Base on 23 August 1962; the earlier P35-1 launch on 24 May 1962 had failed to reach orbit. All five Program 35 launch attempts using Scout launch vehicles, including the two successes, were made from Vandenberg SLC-5. Early launches also used Thor-Burner vehicles with Altair or Burner II upper stages. Program 35 was renamed the Data Acquisition and Processing Program, sometimes abbreviated DAPP. Eight satellites were launched using Atlas E vehicles between 1982 and 1995, three using Titan II vehicles between 1997 and 2003, and one on a Delta IV rocket. The most recent launch, DMSP-F19, occurred on 3 April 2014 from Vandenberg aboard an Atlas V. The DSAP-1 series, also known as P-35, was the first series of U.S. military meteorological satellites; the designation DMSP-1 was retroactively assigned. DSAP-2 consisted of three modified DSAP-1 satellites with improved infrared radiometers, retroactively designated DMSP-2. The single DSAP-3 was a modified DSAP-2 for experimental tactical weather data access, with a readout station near Saigon, retroactively designated DMSP-3. DSAP-5B comprised five satellites launched between 1971 and 1974, designated DMSP-5B. DSAP-5C comprised three satellites launched between 1974 and 1976, designated DMSP-5C.
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