U.S. Satellite to Have Ballast, but Not Sand
The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center in El Segundo said Wednesday that it was not planning to launch 2,000 pounds of sand aboard a $1-billion Milstar communications satellite, as reported in Tuesday’s Times.
The agency, quoting Brig. Gen. Leonard Kwiatkowski, said the Milstar satellite will instead contain 878 pounds of aluminum ballast to compensate for a secret payload that was removed from the satellite.
However, other Air Force officials and congressional sources stood by their earlier assertions that the ballast amounts to half of the original 4,000-pound payload on the spacecraft. They also reaffirmed that the missile systems center long planned to use sand encased in aluminum as the ballast.
Air Force officials earlier declined comment when asked about the sand. They said only that an unspecified amount of ballast would be used aboard one of two Milstar satellites already produced.
The ballast issue has been in contention for a year, amid efforts within the Defense Department to kill the $27.4-billion Milstar program.
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