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STP-H5

STP-H5 [NRL]

The STP-H5 (Space Test Program - Houston 5) is a combo of experiments to be hosted on the International Space Station (ISS).

Following experiments are mounted on STP-H5:

  • LIS (Lightning Imaging Sensor) to measure the frequency and energy of lighting strikes around the world to provide data valuable for weather prediction, climate research, atmospheric chemistry / physics and flight safety for air- and spacecraft.
  • SHM (Structural Health Monitoring) experiment collects data on how fasteners, different glues and mechanical parts fare in an operational spaceflight environment from the assembly, testing and arrival in orbit through two to four years of exposure to the challenging space environment.
  • ISEM (ISS SpaceCube Experiment Mini) will provide validation for hybrid-processing technology to advance that technology’s mission readiness level for future application on small satellites with limited volume for computer equipment.
  • EHD (Electro-Hydro Dynamics) to demonstrate a fluid pump driven by electric fields, eliminating fragile, failure-prone mechanical components and reducing weight.
  • RHEME (Radiation Hardened Electronic Memory Experiment) deploys a study of how frequently electronic memory experiences a glitch after being struck by high-energy particles in space. It consists two types of SRAM (static random access memory) devices – four 16 Mbit devices and a 72Mbit device comprising four 18MBit slices, both types were designed by Silicon Space Technology, Inc. for space applications.
  • Raven, an advanced real-time spacecraft navigation system possessing state of the art sensors and the intelligence needed to autonomously acquire a target and steer toward it in a safe fashion.
  • LITES (Limb-Imaging Ionospheric and Thermospheric Extreme-Ultraviolet Spectrograph) is an instrument dedicated to studying Earth’s ionosphere, a highly complex and dynamic region of the upper atmosphere in which charged particles from the sun form plasmas and airglow, responsible for space weather phenomena that can affect the operation of satellites and radio communications.
  • GROUP-C (GPS Radio Occultation and Ultraviolet Photometry Co-located) is a space weather payload operated in close conjunction with LITES to form a UV and Radio Ionospheric Observation suite operated from the International Space Station. It uses two sensors to measure Earth’s ionosphere, the uppermost region of the atmosphere. The sensors measure horizontal and vertical ion and electron density in the ionosphere, studying the ionosphere’s structure and variability.
  • FPS is an experimental Fabry Perot Spectrometer for Methane (FPS) to demonstrate a small, low-cost sensor for the measurement of atmospheric methane, a primary driver of the greenhouse effect. Understanding the sources of natural and human-caused methane is an important aspect of climate research and miniaturization of a precise methane sensor could permit a number of observatories to be deployed at low-cost to monitor global methane variation and quantify the release of methane from thawing permafrost.
  • iMESA-R (Integrated Miniaturized Electrostatic Analyzer Reflight) is the reflight mission of the Space Test Program-integrated Miniaturized Electrostatic Analyzer – a space weather system comprising four low-cost instruments to measure plasma densities and energies to improve forecast models for the ionosphere and spacecraft charging effects.
  • ICE (Innovative Coatings Experiment) is a space exposure study that examines the degradation experienced by a variety of materials over a two-year space mission. It is a well known fact that the harsh radiation and extreme temperatures experienced in Low Earth Orbit can corrode the paint and coatings of spacecraft and cause optical components to degrade over time.
  • APS (Automated Plume Sentry) examines how thrusters on spacecraft in close proximity to the Space Station interact with the complex and whether they can contaminate experiments installed on the Station’s exterior.

The STP-H5 package was launched as an external payload in the Dragon CRS-10 trunk. STP-H5 was installed on ELC-1.

Nation: USA
Type / Application: Technology
Operator: US Air Force (USAF), STP (Space Test Program)
Contractors:
Equipment: LIS, SHM, ISEM, EHD, RHEME, Raven, LITES, GROUP-C, FPS, iMESA-R, ICE, APS
Configuration: Attached ISS payload
Propulsion: None
Power: Via ISS
Lifetime:
Mass:
Orbit: 400 km × 400 km, 51.6° (typical)
Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
STP-H5 N/A 19.02.2017 CCK LC-39A Falcon-9 v1.2 with Dragon CRS-10, SAGE 3

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