OCSE (IOSS)

OCSE Canister [L'Garde]

OCSE [L'Garde]

OCSE (Optical Calibration Sphere Experiment) or IOSS (Inflatable Optical Sphere System), a 3.5 m diameter inflatable sphere built by L'Garde Inc. for calibrating the lasers at the AFRL Starfire Optical Range.

The 0.48 m long 0.41 m diameter OCSE canister was ejected from the JAWSAT stack; 42 seconds later, with the canister clear of the other payloads, the canister door opened and 10  seconds after that inflation of the sphere began. The canister intentionally remained attached to the inflated sphere. Once inflated, the sphere's material becomes rigidized. OCS had a standard visible magnitude of +5 and required a dark sky for it to be observed.

After successfully completing its one year mission, the OCSE reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 5 March 2001.