The experimental satellite Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX)of the Research Laboratory of the US Air Force (Air Force), which is comparable in size to a football field, has completed its work, reports C4ISRNet.
The publication reminds that work on the spacecraft, launched in 2019, began back in 2003. The satellite was in an average near-Earth orbit, experiencing the influence of the Earth's radiation belt. The Air Force assumed that the spacecraft would last a year, but its condition allowed it to extend the work for the same time.
The main purpose of the DSX missions is to collect experimental data on radiation in near-Earth space, which would help the US Air Force to develop a large spacecraft under appropriate conditions.
C4ISRNet reports that the length of one retractable antenna of the satellite that stopped working was 80 meters, the other — 16.
The publication does not specify how the operation of the DSX was completed.
In April last year, Northrop Grumman reported that the Mission Extension Vehicle 1 (MEV-1), having docked with the Intelsat 901 telecommunications satellite, which was in the burial orbit, conducted a series of maneuvers to move the latter into geostationary orbit. The operations carried out allowed 30 commercial and state customers to start working with a telecommunications satellite. The operator hopes that Intelsat 901 will work for another five years.
Ivan Potapov
