Teal Ruby (P80-1, AFP-888)

Teal Ruby [USAF]

Teal Ruby was a technology experiment to test new IR sensors for early warning satellites. Originally named P80-1 until December 1983 when it was renamed AFP-888 and its launch date became classified. It has essentially a rectangular parallelepiped shape and approximate dimensions 2.4 × 2.4 × 0.7 m. The spacecraft is three-axis stabilized to maintain one 2.4  x 2.4 m surface vector pointing at the nadir. The spacecraft serves as a stable platform reference for three experiment telescopes. The spacecraft telemetry capability is PCM and it uses onboard tape recorders with up to 6 hours storage.

Originally to be launched on the first Shuttle mission from Vandenberg, it was put into storage after the Challenger disaster. Later it was manifested for a 1990 launch from Cape Canaveral, but the project was finally cancelled in 1988. The satellite, still in storage, served as a laboratory for aging processes of space equipment.