Objectives and Applications
The primary objectives of MSX are to detect, acquire and track targets and to discriminate lethal from nonlethal objects (detailed characterization and modeling of target objects and their associated phenomenology of the terrestrial, Earth-limb, and celestial backgrounds). The information gathered by the MSX spacecraft will help fill significant spatial, spectral, and temporal gaps that currently exist in space environment models. Another driving factor in the MSX Program is sensor and spacecraft technology improvement. The latest technology is used to provide the most up-to-date phenomenological information and to serve as a new-technology demonstrator.
Full Name
Midcourse Space Experiment
Mission Status
Mission complete
Mission Agencies
DoD (USA)
Launch Date
24 Apr 1996
Mission Links
EOL Date
01 Jul 2008
Orbit Type
Inclined, non-sun-synchronous
Orbit Period
103 minutes
Orbit Sense
Orbit Inclination
99.4 deg
Orbit Altitude
907 km
Orbit Longitude
NORAD Catalog #
International Designator
No IDN OpenSearch datasets found.