The Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) is a Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) satellite experiment (unmanned space mission) to map bright infrared sources in space. MSX offered the first system demonstration of technology in space to identify and track ballistic missiles during their midcourse flight phase.

History

On 24 April 1996, the BMDO launched the MSX satellite on a Delta II booster from Vandenberg AFB, California. MSX was placed in a sun-synchronous orbit at 898 km and an inclination of 99.16 degrees. MSX's mission was to gather data in three spectral bands (long wavelength infrared, visible, and ultraviolet). MSX became a contributing sensor to the Space Surveillance Network on 13 May 1998.

Operations

Operational from 1996–1997, MSX mapped the galactic plane and areas either missed or identified as particularly bright by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) at wavelengths of 4.29 µm, 4.35 µm, 8.28 µm, 12.13 µm, 14.65 µm, and 21.3 µm. It carried the 33-cm SPIRIT III infrared telescope with solid hydrogen-cooled five line-scanned infrared focal plane arrays.