ARGOS (satellite)

ARGOS

Artist's rendition of ARGOS
Mission type	Space environment
Operator	AFRL NRL STP
COSPAR ID	1999-008A
SATCAT no.	25634
Mission duration	3 years (planned) 4.5 years (achieved)
Spacecraft properties
Bus	ARGOS
Manufacturer	Boeing
Launch mass	2,450 kg (5,400 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	23 February 1999, 10:29:55 UTC
Rocket	Delta II 7920-10
Launch site	Vandenberg, SLC-2W
Contractor	Boeing
End of mission
Last contact	31 July 2003
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit[1]
Regime	Sun-synchronous orbit
Perigee altitude	828 km (514 mi)
Apogee altitude	842 km (523 mi)
Inclination	98.78°
Period	101.47 minutes
ARGOS mission patch

The Advanced Research and Global Observation Satellite (ARGOS) was launched on 23 February 1999 carrying nine payloads for research and development missions by nine separate researchers. The mission terminated on 31 July 2003.

ARGOS was launched from SLC-2W, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, atop a Boeing Delta II (7920-10) launch vehicle. Construction of the spacecraft bus and integration of the satellite's payloads was accomplished by Boeing at their Seal Beach, California facility. The program was funded and led by the DoD's Space Test Program (STP) as mission P91-1 (the first STP mission contract awarded in 1991).

The US$220 million mission was operated by Air Force Space Command's Space and Missile Systems Center's Test and Evaluation Directorate (then Space Development and Test Wing, now SMC's Advanced Systems and Development Directorate)^[2] from their RDT&E Support Complex (RSC) at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. ARGOS was the first mission operated 100% from the new state-of-the-art, commercial-off-the-shelf Kirtland facility; all previous SMC satellite missions had been operated in total or at least in part from the preceding center at Onizuka Air Force Station, California.