Air Force Begins Operation of Ball Aerospace’s Space Test Satellite; Dave Kaufman Comments

The U.S. Air Force has accepted operational responsibility for a satellite Ball Aerospace & Technologies built to support space-based technology demonstrations by the Defense Department.

Space Test Program Satellite-3 was sent into orbit along with 28 CubeSats aboard a single Minotaur I rocket Nov. 19 at the Wallops Flight Center in Virginia, Ball Aerospace said Friday.

Ball Aerospace designed the STPSat-3 with a standard payload interface as part of the firm’s configurable platform offerings.

Dave Kaufman, vice president and general manager of Ball Aerosapce’s national defense business unit, said the architecture is intended to help customers manage the spacecraft’s payload capacity.

The STPSat-3 carries a range of technologies used by the Pentagon, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.