[2][6] Data was stored on an 8.64 gigabit (1.08 gigabyte) experimental hard drive system,[3] called Erasable Disk Mass Memory,[7] before being downloaded through the Air Force Satellite Control Network.

[2] The Miniature Sensor Technology Integration program was started by the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) in December 1991, and was transferred to the United States Air Force by congressional direction in 1994.

Launched on 21 November 1992, MSTI-1 carried a single MWIR camera and met its primary objective of validating the SA-200S spacecraft bus during its six months in orbit.

It successfully observed a Minuteman-III missile as part of its primary objective of tracking boosting targets below the horizon,[10] but failed in orbit after four months into its six-month mission.

[3] MSTI-3's primary mission was to survey surface and atmospheric features of Earth in SWIR and MWIR to characterize how they vary in appearance across observational angles, times of day, and seasons.

[4] The flight took place aboard a Pegasus Hybrid air-launched rocket carried by Orbital Science's Stargazer Lockheed L-1011 aircraft staged out of Vandenberg Air Force Base.

However, the spacecraft remained healthy and additional funding, primary from the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and Phillips Laboratory, continued operations through November 1997.

ANSER, leading a team from several organizations, was directed on 10 November 1997 to create a plan for reentry; formal authorization to deorbit the spacecraft was given on 1 December 1997.

[3] Power issues aboard MSTI-3, caused by lower-than-expected battery performance and complicated by the spacecraft entering a period of full eclipses during its orbit, forced mission controllers to begin deactivating on-board systems.