U.S. Air Force plans to launch 1990s-built weather satellite

The U.S. Air Force on Wednesday said it plans to launch an aging weather satellite at an expected cost of hundreds of millions of dollars to prevent a gap in forecasting capability and provide another competitive launch opportunity for privately held Space Exploration Technologies Inc, or SpaceX. General John Hyten, who heads Air Force Space Command, and Air Force Secretary Deborah James, said a decision had been made to launch the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Flight 20 satellite, which was built in the 1990s. More

(Source: Reuters - Apr 30)