DMSP-5D2 F14 was retired in 2020 but remained in its sun-synchronous orbit after retirement.
The U.S. Space Force identified a low-velocity fragmentation event involving the DMSP-5D2 F14 spacecraft that took place at 9:10 p.m. Eastern on 2024-12-18 at an altitude of 840 km.
DMSP-5D2 F14 is a 750-kilogram satellite that was launched in 1997 as part of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program and operated in a sun-synchronous orbit.
The DMSP F11 spacecraft broke up in 2004 and created 56 pieces of tracked debris.
Slingshot Aerospace believes the breakup of DMSP-5D2 F14 took place before 8:15 p.m. Eastern on 2024-12-18 based on tracking from its optical ground stations.
Muon Space is developing an EO/IR constellation solution intended to provide a commercial path to fill gaps created by aging DMSP satellites and ensure mission-critical data delivery.
The EO/IR Weather System (EWS) satellite delivered under the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command contract is intended to support the transition from the Defense Meteorological Support Program (DMSP) on-orbit systems to a new generation of affordable, high-performance, small weather satellites.
The seven-day record was set in 2014 with United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V 541 launching DMSP-19 from SLC-3 East at Vandenberg and Atlas V 401 launching NROL-67 from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral.
The EWS system is designed to provide three-to-five years of on-orbit operational capabilities to fill EO/IR data gaps as legacy DMSP satellites are retired.
EWS satellites will replace aging Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites that are projected to stop working sometime between late 2023 and 2026.
The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) spacecraft are expected to reach end of service life between late 2023 and 2026.
The four operational DMSP satellites orbit approximately 14 times per day and were launched between 1999 and 2009.
The Air Force launched a refurbished DMSP 5D-3/F19 in early 2014 after refurbishing two stored DMSP satellites.
DMSP 5D-3 satellites were designed with a five-year design life, and the oldest operational 5D-3/F15 had been operating well beyond its design life for roughly 17 years.
The U.S. Space Force completed a DMSP reliability assessment concluding the constellation will reach mission end-of-life between late 2023 and sometime in 2026.
The Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS) program awarded Northrop Grumman a $429,000,000 contract in 2011 to build a DMSP successor before Congress directed termination of DWSS in 2012.
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems plans to deliver a prototype EWS system by 2022 capable of filling gaps in critical weather data for the U.S. military as the DMSP approaches the end of its lifecycle.
Lockheed Martin built the DMSP satellites with the battery design flaw as well as NOAA-15 and NOAA-17.
DMSP F-13 experienced a breakup in February 2015 and DMSP F-12 experienced a breakup in October 2016.
Two previous programs to replace the DMSP were cancelled: NPOESS, which began in 1997 and was cancelled in 2010 due to escalating costs and schedule delays, and the Defense Weather Satellite System, which started in 2010 and was terminated in fiscal year 2012 because of unsustainable costs.