Satellite Test Device To Simulate Nuclear Effects

摘要

The U.S. military's most robust communications satellites, designed to withstand severe space weather and even nuclear detonations, will be battle tested by engineers at Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee using a newly built device that simulates high-radiation events. The Military Satellite Communications Atmospheric Scintillation Simulator, or MASS, developed by Welkin Sciences of Colorado Springs, Colo., and the Arnold Engineering Development Complex's Test Technology Branch at a cost of $2.6 million, is expected to be delivered to the Air Force this summer. Officials have said the simulator provides the most realistic scintillation tests the satellites have faced. "It's the most you can do beside set off a nuclear bomb in the ionosphere," said Bill Sward, Welkin Sciences' engineering manager.