AEDC prepares for an acceptance test in the Space Threat Assessment Testbed facility

Second Lt. Akshay Tripathi (left), in the AEDC Space and Missile Test division, installs a microsatellite in AEDC’s new Space Threat Assessment Testbed to conduct an initial site acceptance (ISA) test as Marc Smotherman, an ATA space chamber lead, observes. The initial site acceptance test is the equivalent to the halfway point of mission capability. The STAT can simulate a realistic operational environment to space hardware, using multiple source simulators to emulate the conditions existing at various space orbits. The STAT facility will reach Initial Operating Capability in April, followed by Full Operational Capability certification by September 2013. The facility will be operated under the Space Combined Test Force (CTF). (Photo by Jacqueline Cowan)

AEDC prepares for an acceptance test in the Space Threat Assessment Testbed facility

Capt. Nicolas Bauer (right) and 2nd Lt. Akshay Tripathi, in the AEDC Space and Missile Test division, install a microsatellite in AEDC’s new Space Threat Assessment Testbed to conduct an initial site acceptance (ISA) test. The initial site acceptance test is the equivalent to the halfway point of mission capability. The STAT can simulate a realistic operational environment to space hardware, using multiple source simulators to emulate the conditions existing at various space orbits. The STAT facility will reach Initial Operating Capability in April, followed by Full Operational Capability certification by September 2013. The facility will be operated under the Space Combined Test Force (CTF). (Photo by Jacqueline Cowan)

New combined test force established for AEDC's newest test capability

From left, Capt. Nicholas Bauer, STAT test director / conductor; Lt. Akshay Tripathi, STAT test conductor; Mike Ketron, Space CTF director; Alex Freehardt, STAT lead test conductor; Jim Nichols, STAT test director and lead analyst; Steve Macarino, STAT test conductor; and Jim Burns, CTF technical director, listen as Lt. Col. Gregg Leisman, AEDC Space and Missile Test Chief welcomes the team and celebrated stand-up of the new organization within his mission area. (Photo by Jacqueline Cowan)

Art meets science in unique Tunnel 9 test of a 'bird...in flight'

From left, Erin Hedlund, Montgomery Blair High School rising senior, Dan Marren, AEDC Tunnel 9 director and Erin’s father Dr. Eric Hedlund (AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense Test Director), pose for an informal portrait with the Bird in Space sculpture mounted in the students’ Mach 3 Tunnel in Tunnel 9’s Calibration Laboratory. (Photo by Arnold Collier)

AEDC played critical role in supporting NASA Explorer’s mission to MAP the skies

Data from testing conducted on NASA Goddard Space Center’s 1,760-pound satellite Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) in the Arnold Engineering Development Complex’s (AEDC) Mark 1 Aerospace Chamber in 2000, enabled scientists to determine the universe’s size, composition, approximate age and rate of expansion. (Photos by Gary Barton and David Housch)

AEDC played critical role in supporting NASA Explorer’s mission to MAP the skies

Ricky Bush, an ATA lead machinist for Arnold’s space chambers test cells, watches the removal of the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center’s Microwave Anisotropy Probe from AEDC’s Mark I Space Environmental Chamber following a successful solar panel deployment test.