BMRST
Encyclopedia
Honeywell
Honeywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....
International in Clearwater Florida, to monitor and provide space-vehicle position data during launches. The BMRST system consists of a control center van and two trailer-mounted tracking antennas. All data processing and range safety
Range safety
In rocketry, range safety is assured by the systems which protect people and assets on the rocket range in cases when a launch vehicle might endanger them. Range safety is usually the responsibility of a Range Safety Officer...
displays are housed in the control center; the antennas are designed to receive data from launched rockets and space vehicles and transmit the information back to the control center. From the control center, the Range Safety Officer
Range Safety Officer
In the field of rocketry, Range Safety Officer is a generic term referring to an individual who monitors the performance of rockets in flight, and who is responsible for their remote destruction if it should be judged that they pose a hazard...
will also be able to assist in destroying an off-course rocket or launch vehicle for safety reasons.
The tracking antennas combine the ability to receive an S-band telemetry data signal with the ability to transmit high-power UHF Command Destruct tones. Each of the antenna systems consists of a 5.4-meter reflector
Reflector
-Science:* Reflector, a device that causes reflection * Reflector , used to control lighting contrast* Reflecting telescope* Reflector , the part of an antenna that reflects radio waves...
, elevation
Elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....
over azimuth pedestal, and a specialized telemetry tracking/UHF feed.
The system is currently operated by the Florida Air National Guard at Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River.It is part of a region known as the...
Air Force Station, Florida. The system is capable of being transport by land, sea and C-5 Galaxy
C-5 Galaxy
The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft built by Lockheed. It provides the United States Air Force with a heavy intercontinental-range strategic airlift capability, one that can carry outsize and oversize cargos, including all air-certifiable cargo. The Galaxy has many...
, C-17
C-17 Globemaster III
The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft. Developed for the United States Air Force from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas, the C-17 is used for rapid strategic airlift of troops and cargo to main operating bases or forward operating bases throughout...
military cargo aircraft.
The BMRST system is similar in design to the Range Safety and Telemetry System
Range Safety and Telemetry System
Range Safety and Telemetry System is a GPS based, S-band telemetry receiving and UHF command destruct system, with two 5.4-meter telemetry and command destruct auto-tracking antennas. The system built by Honeywell International...
(RSTS) being used at the Kodiak Launch Center in Alaska.
See also
External links and sources
- Florida Air Guard Receives New Space-Launch Tracking System
- Honeywell Range Safety
- Honeywell To Provide Ballistic Missile Range Safety Technology System For The U.S. Air Force Rocket System Launch Program (October 2002)
- Contract from Honeywell Space Systems for Ballistic Missile Range Safety System
- Challenges in Acceptance/Licensing of a Mobile Ballistic Missile Range Safety Technology (BMRST) System (PDF File)