December 16, 2006

The TacSat 2 spacecraft was launched today, joining a series of satellites protected by CSA's SoftRide launch load alleviation system over the last decade. The 814-pound satellite, orbited from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility on a Minotaur vehicle, carries 11 experiments and is managed by the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center's Space Development and Test Wing. One of the primary objectives of the mission was a rapid cycle of design, construction and launch. TacSat 2 is the ninth satellite protected by the CSA Engineering SoftRide vibration isolation system. Several other SoftRide systems are currently in the design, manufacturing, or test stages.