Launch Vehicle

Air-launched Pegasus XL

Three stages, solid propellant, 16.9-m length, 22,680-kg initial mass

Launch from Wallops flight facility, L-1011 carrier aircraft

Launch vehicle contractor

Orbital Sciences Corporation

Instrument Characteristics

Pushbroom infrared/visible imaging spectrometer (PIRVIS)

20-cm telescope, l-deg FOV, panchromatic,visible color, and shortwave infrared imaging

Instrument contractor

Hugh Aerospace Electronics Co., Electro Optical Systems

Spacecraft Spacecraft Characteristics

Structure

cylindrical solar array, two graphic-epoxy equipment shelves, 94-kg wet mass

Attitude control

stellar-referenced momentum bias, thrusters, and one-axis momentum wheel

Data handling

centralized architecture, 1750A processor, 1.2 Gbit solid-state memory

Power

3.5 m^2 cylindrical GaAs solar array, 5 amp-hr AgZn battery, 28 +/- 4V

Propulsion

size hydrazine thruster, 33-cm tank, 150+ m/s for trajectory corrections

Telecom

all X-band, 0.3-m HGA, MGA, 2 LGAs, 10-W solid-state power amplifier, small deep-space transponder (new technology)

Injection stage

366-kg solid-propellant Thiokol STAR 27

Spacecraft contractor

Ball Aerospace Systems Division