NFIRE TEST A SUCCESS

The Near Field Infrared Experiment (NFIRE) has been deemed a success as the spacecraft satellite passed an important tracking test early Thursday morning with a boost-phase data-collection experiment essential to developing an eventual boost-phase anti-ballistic missile defense interception capability.

A modified Minuteman II booster vehicle, the Chimera, was fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. silo, at about 1:30 a.m. PDT and was then "successfully tracked by the NFIRE satellite," the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) said in a statement.

"This exercise provided an opportunity for the NFIRE satellite to collect high- and low-resolution images of a boosting rocket that will improve understanding of missile exhaust plume observations and plume-to-rocket body discrimination. Data from the NFIRE satellite was downlinked to the Missile Defense Space Experimentation Center at the Missile Defense Integration & Operations Center at Schriever AFB, Colo.," the MDA said.