Laser antennas, nuclear bomb detectors, and a new kind of gamma-ray detector were some of the experiments that launched 2 days ago.
On the morning of December 7th, 2021, the United Launch Alliance launched STP-3 (Space Test Program) on an Atlas V 551 for the US Department of Defense (DoD). The mission will test out multiple new technologies, including LCRD, a NASA experiment that will prove that laser communications can be used over a long distance. [1]
The mission launched STPSat-6 into a near-geostationary orbit, in addition to LDPE-1, a spacecraft bus that has a few experiments or small satellites attached. LDPE-1 is based on Northrop Grumman's ESPAStar satellite bus. [2]
STPSat-6
STPSat-6 was built by Northrop Grumman and has nine experiments onboard, one of which is unidentified. One of the primary experiments on the mission is the Space and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System-3 (SABRS-3), which will be able to detect the detonation of nuclear bombs. The US government has similar detectors on their GPS satellites. A new generation of those detectors are currently being developed and a prototype of the new design, the Space & Endo-Atmospheric NUDET Surveillance Experiment and Risk-Reduction (SENSER) was also launched on the mission. [3]
Other experiments
The Air Force Research Laboratory contributed three experiments to the mission. RHEME III is one of these experiments. It was developed in collaboration with the University of New Mexico and will measure the amount of damage that computer memory receives from radiation. [4] The Compact Environmental Anomaly Sensor Experiment III (CEASE3) and Falcon Solid-State Energetic Electron Detector (FalconSEED) will work together to study spacecraft anomalies. Charged particles and ions caused by space weather can build up outside a spacecraft and lead to spacecraft anomalies. These two experiments will study the environment around the satellite and attempt to predict these issues. [5] [6]
Strontium Iodide Radiation Instrumentation II (SIRI-2) is a new design for a gamma-ray detector that was designed by the Naval Research Laboratory. It might someday be used by the DoD or on a gamma-ray telescope. [7]
The Naval Research Laboratory also worked with NASA to build the Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph Pathfinder (UVSC Pathfinder). UVSC Pathfinder is a prototype for an experiment that can study the Sun's corona and gather data about Solar Energetic Particles, which are caused by solar flares. [8]
LCRD
Probably the most well-known experiment on STPSat-6 is the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), a NASA experiment that will use lasers to communicate with Earth. Due to the length of this article, I will not be explaining that experiment here, instead I will write a dedicated blog post about the history of laser communications that will be out in a few days.
Sources:
Kai-Leung Yung, Yuk-Ming Tang, Wai-Hung Ip, Wei-Ting Kuo, A Systematic Review of Product Design for Space Instrument Innovation, Reliability, and Manufacturing, Machines, 10.3390/machines9100244, 9, 10, (244), (2021). (link)
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016AGUFMSM11C2170R/abstract
Lee J. Mitchell, Bernard F. Phlips, W. Neil Johnson et al., "Radiation damage assessment of SensL SiPMs", Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 988, pg. 164798, (2021); doi:10.1016/j.nima.2020.164798 (link)