Air Force Academy cadets are putting the finishing touches on their own handcrafted satellite, set to launch Dec. 7 aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas booster, reports the Colorado Springs Gazette. Cadets expect the satellite to test a new space propulsion system and gauge radio interference in Earth’s atmosphere. The USAFA 120-pound payload is one of five others in a premier multiple launch. An earlier satellite built by the academy space-operators-in-training was destroyed when the experimental rocket carrying it developed a fuel leak fire.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.