Northrop Grumman Space Systems | Minotaur IV | EWS OD-1 Rocket Launch
The Electro-Optical/Infrared Weather System (EWS) Operational Demonstration-1 (OD-1) is a weather satellite for the United States Space Force. It is a prototype satellite made by General Atomics that will be place in LEO for a three-year demonstration mission of new EO/IR sensor technologies to various US military branches, and to act as a stop-gap for Defense Department needs for weather data.
Northrop Grumman Space Systems | Minotaur IV | STP-S29A Rocket Launch
STP-S29A is a mission under the U.S. Department of Defense’s Space Test Program (STP) that will deliver technology demonstrations to orbit and contribute to future space system development, with this launch delivering up to 200 kg of STP cubesats to Low Earth Orbit.
The main payload will be STPSat-7, an ESPA class satellite based on the Aegis Aerospace M-1 satellite bus used on the STPSat-4 mission for hosting research and technology demonstration payloads for the Department of Defense (DoD). One of the payload is U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Lightsheet Anomaly Resolution and Debris Observation (LARADO) instrument, used to detect and characterize lethal non-trackable orbital debris with lasers in orbit.