Editing UGM-27 Polaris (section)

== STARS ==
[[File:US DoD, Navy, Army jointly conducted a flight experiment of a common hypersonic glide body from Pacific Missile Range Facility, Hawaii on 19 March 2020.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|A 2020 test launch of a STARS booster carrying a prototype of the [[Common-Hypersonic Glide Body]]]]
STARS, the Strategic Target System program, is a [[BMDO]] program managed by the U. S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command (SSDC). It began in 1985 in response to concerns that the supply of surplus [[Minuteman I]] boosters used to launch targets and other experiments on intercontinental ballistic missile flight trajectories in support of the Strategic Defense Initiative would be depleted by 1988. SSDC tasked [[Sandia National Laboratories]], a Department of Energy laboratory, to develop an alternative launch vehicle using surplus Polaris boosters. The Sandia National Laboratories developed two STARS booster configurations: STARS I and STARS II.

STARS I consisted of refurbished Polaris first and second stages and a
commercially procured [[Orbis I]] third stage. It can deploy single or multiple payloads, but the multiple payloads cannot be deployed in a manner that simulates the operation of a post-boost vehicle.  To meet this specific need, Sandia developed an Operations and Deployment
Experiments Simulator (ODES), which functions as a PBV.  When ODES was added to STARS I, the configuration became known as STARS II. The development phase of the STARS program was completed in 1994, and BMDO provided about $192.1 million for this effort. The operational phase began in 1995. The first STARS I flight, a hardware check-out flight, was launched in February 1993, and the second flight, a STARS I reentry vehicle experiment, was launched in August 1993.

The third flight, a STARS II development mission, was launched in July 1994, with all three flights considered to be successful by BMDO. The Secretary of Defense conducted a comprehensive review in 1993 of the nation's defense strategy, which drastically reduced the number of STARS launches required to support National Missile Defense (NMD)2 and BMDO funding. Due to the launch and budget reductions, the STARS office developed a draft long-range plan for the STARS program. The study examined three options:
# Place the program in a dormant status, but retain the capability to reactivate it.
# Terminate the program.
# Continue the program.
When the STARS program was started in 1985 it was perceived that there would be four launches per year.  Because of the large number of anticipated launches and an unknown defect rate for surplus Polaris motors, the STARS office acquired 117 first-stage and 102 second-stage surplus motors. As of December 1994, seven first-stage and five second-stage refurbished motors were available for future launches. BMDO is currently evaluating STARS as a potential long-range system for launching targets for development tests of future Theater Missile Defense 3 systems. STARS I was first launched in 1993, and from 2004 onwards has served as the standard booster for trials of the [[Ground-Based Interceptor]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/stars.html|title=Sandia STARS|last=Parsch|first=Andreas|year=2007|work=Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles Appendix 4: Undesignated Vehicles|publisher=Designation-Systems.net|access-date=2017-01-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170120014709/http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/stars.html|archive-date=2017-01-20}}</ref>