Satellite Dusted Off, Set for Launch Today
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United Press International
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE — An old Navy navigation satellite displayed in the Smithsonian for more than eight years has been dusted off and is to be launched today atop a Scout rocket as an orbiting science station.
The 275-pound satellite now is called Polar BEAR, for Polar Beacon Experiments and Auroral Research, and its new experiments are designed to help scientists improve communications in polar regions.
The small satellite was housed in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
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