The Air Force Research Lab has set May 5 for the launch of Tactical Satellite-3 (TacSat-3) from NASA’s Wallops Island facility in Virginia. Launch of the less than 880-pound satellite on its year-long experimental mission had been delayed more than once as program officials worked through repairs to some of its components. TacSat-3 carries three experiments: Raytheon’s ARTEMIS hyperspectral imager, the Office of Naval Research’s satellite communications package, and AFRL’s space avionics experiment. (Kirtland AFB, N.M. report by Michael Kleiman)
The Air Force is launching an effort to develop a new stand-off missile with a range of 1,000 nautical miles, or 1,150 miles, that would eventually be used for both air-to-air and air-to-surface missions.