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Test vehicle. Year: 1993. Family: Polaris. Country: USA. Three stage target vehicle for anti-ballistic missile tests, consisting of a surplus Polaris A3 SLBM (A3P first stage + X-260 second stage) and an Orbus 1 third stage. Sandia National Laboratories began development of the vehcile in 1985 as an alternative to existing test vehicles using Minuteman 1 surplus rocket stages. The STARS I configuration could boost as single simulated warhead. STARS II added the ODES (Operations and Deployment Experiments Simulator) fourth stage, which simulated the post-boost vehicle of an ICBM and could dispense decoys or multiple simulated warheads. Manufacturer: Lockheed. Launches: 9. Failures: 1. Success Rate: 88.89%. First Launch Date: 1993-02-26. Last Launch Date: 2007-05-25. Launch data is: continuing. Apogee: 2,500 km (1,500 mi). Total Mass: 16,700 kg (36,800 lb). Core Diameter: 1.37 m (4.49 ft). Total Length: 11.50 m (37.70 ft). Maximum range: 5,500 km (3,400 mi).
STARS Chronology 1993 February 26 - 20:45 GMT - Launch Site: Barking Sands. Launch Vehicle: STARS. LV Configuration: STARS FTU-1. - FTU-1 Test mission Nation: USA. Agency: USA SDC. Apogee: 1,000 km (600 mi). References: 1836.
1993 August 25 - 10:00 GMT - Launch Site: Barking Sands. Launch Vehicle: STARS. LV Configuration: STARS M-1. - Zodiac Beauchamp Target mission Nation: USA. Agency: USA SDC. Apogee: 1,000 km (600 mi). References: 1836.
1994 July 22 - Launch Site: Barking Sands. Launch Vehicle: STARS. LV Configuration: STARS M-2 STARS II. - ODES Target mission Nation: USA. Agency: USA SDC. Apogee: 1,000 km (600 mi). References: 1836.
1996 August 31 - 15:41 GMT - Launch Site: Barking Sands. Launch Vehicle: STARS. LV Configuration: STARS M-3 STARS II. - ODES/MSX MDT-2 Target mission Nation: USA. Agency: USA SDC. Apogee: 909 km (564 mi). References: 1769.
2001 November 9 - 18:12 GMT - Launch Site: Kodiak. Launch Vehicle: STARS. LV Configuration: STARS M-4?. FAILURE: Failure. - BMDO Radar Target mission Nation: USA. Agency: USA SMDC. Apogee: 10 km (6 mi). References: 1823.
2004 December 15 - 04:45 GMT - Launch Site: Kodiak. Launch Vehicle: STARS. LV Configuration: Polaris A3/Orbus 1. - IFT-13c Target mission Nation: USA. Agency: USA SMDC. Apogee: 1,000 km (600 mi). Target for ballistic missile defence intercept test. Launch successful, but anti-ballistic missile that was to intercept it never left silo. Impacted in Pacific Ocean. Delayed from January, August, November, December 9 and 12 References: 1823.
2006 February 23 - 16:09 GMT - Launch Site: Kodiak. Launch Vehicle: STARS. LV Configuration: Polaris/STARS s/n M-7 FT04-1. - BMD Radar Test Nation: USA. Agency: USA SMDC. Manufacturer: Sandia. Apogee: 1,000 km (600 mi). Target
2006 September 1 - 17:22 GMT - Launch Site: Kodiak. Launch Vehicle: STARS. LV Configuration: STARS s/n M-8. - IFT-15 Nation: USA. Agency: MDA. Manufacturer: Sandia. Apogee: 1,000 km (600 mi). Target
2007 May 25 - Launch Site: Kodiak. Launch Vehicle: STARS. LV Configuration: Polaris/STARS. - FTG-03 Target Nation: USA. Agency: MDA.
Bibliography and Further Reading - McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page, Harvard University, 1997-present. Jonathan McDowell's complete on-line listing of all objects orbited and over 20,000 rocket launches Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
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