General Dynamics Satellite Records Plenty Of Plume

You may recall we reported on the Near Field Infrared Experiment (NFIRE) satellite test that was going to be conducted earlier this month at Vandenburg AFB in California for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA). The test has been conducted and was successful—NFIRE collected images of a launched boosting missile that flew within 3.5 kilometers of the on-orbit satellite. This data is going to be used to assist with future missile defense technology development efforts. The NFIRE uses a General Dynamics spacecraft design capable of flying multiple and diverse mission payloads. Once the mission data collection experiments are completed, NFIRE will conduct laser crosslink satellite-to-satellite and satellite-to-ground communications experiments with its secondary payload, the Laser Communication Terminal, which was built by Tesat-Spacecom of Germany—Gilbert, Arizona—August 27, 2007