spacetoday.net: Minotaur launches smallsat constellation

Posted: Sat, Apr 15, 2006, 11:58 AM ET (1558 GMT)
Formosat 3/COSMIC satellite illustration (NSF)

A Minotaur rocket launched a constellation of six small satellites for a US-Taiwan project to study terrestrial and space weather. The Minotaur lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 9:40 pm EDT Friday (0140 GMT Saturday), and placed the six-satellite COSMIC system into sun-synchronous orbit ten minutes later. The launch, which took place despite cloudy weather conditions that threatened to scrub the launch, was delayed 90 minutes to investigate a faulty monitoring system that developed problems in the final minutes before the originally-scheduled liftoff time. The six identical satellites will spend the next 13 months maneuvering into their desired formation. The satellites, called Formosat 3 in Taiwan, are a joint venture between institutions in the US and Taiwan to use radio occultation techniques, using signals transmitted by GPS satellites, to study atmospheric conditions, as well as to monitor space weather.