Teal Ruby Early Warning Satellite

This experimental early-warning satellite was code named Teal Ruby. It was designed to test classified sensors to detect enemy aircraft crossing the polar region toward the USA during the Cold War. This would give U.S. forces early warning of nuclear attack. Teal Ruby was to be launched on a space shuttle in the 1980s, but the mission was cancelled. Instead, it became a test-bed for studying how space equipment ages in storage.