The United States Air Force’s Defense Support Program (DSP) Flight 19 satellite, built by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), was decommissioned last Friday following nine years of service. Northrop Grumman personnel stationed at the company’s Telemetry and Orbital Test Station in Redondo Beach, California, terminated the downlink to Flight 19 at the Air Force’s command. Flight 19 was launched on April 9, 1999 on a Titan IV launch vehicle with an Inertial Upper stage (IUS) rocket. Six hours following the launch, the two stages of the IUS failed to separate completely, leaving the satellite out of control and in a useless geo-transfer orbit (at approximately 320 kilometers and a high apogee altitude at about 34,000 kilometers). Skilled operators on the ground quickly recognized the anomaly and took steps to bring the satellite under control. Nonetheless, Flight 19 was declared a “failed launch,” and the satellite was never brought into operational status and was unable to perform its early warning missile detection mission because of its orbit. The Air Force, however, thought the satellite might still have some utility and directed Northrop Grumman technical personnel to work out procedures to perform periodic earth acquisitions. The team succeeded, enabling Flight 19 to be put to use for mission-related and scientific purposes.
During its nine years in orbit, Flight 19:
- Served as a test bed to check out command and control procedures
- Helped operators enhance the existing DSP constellation performance by characterizing battery, solar array and attitude control performance, thermal effects and command and control capability
- Traveled through the Van Allen radiation belts twice a day, providing data on the longevity of systems exposed to intense radiation
- Viewed the Earth and its environment from different angles, providing information that could not be obtained by a satellite in geosynchronous orbit
- Functioned as a test bed during the development of command systems at Northrop Grumman’s Telemetry and Orbital Test Station (TOTS), enabling TOTS to become a fully functional, Air Force-accredited operations control center
