ULA Launches Nuclear Blast Detection, NASA Laser Communication Payloads Written 7 December 2021
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rolls to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. | Credit: United Launch Alliance; NASA
Spaceflight Now reports that after a delay due to high winds, ULA successfully launched an Atlas 5 rocket carrying the STP-3 mission Tuesday morning. WESH-TV Orlando, FL reports that the main spacecraft “houses an experiment designed to more accurately detect nuclear detonations on Earth,” and will also deploy “two satellites with new technology that have never been deployed to space before.” The second experiment is “for NASA to study and refine the process that uses lasers instead of radio waves to transmit data.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now) More Info (WESH-TV)