Space-Based Infrared satellite launch to complete missile warning system – By Courtney Albon (Defense News) / Aug 3, 2022
WASHINGTON — If all goes as planned, the U.S. Space Force will have a complete constellation of Space-Based Infrared System satellites on orbit by Thursday, the culmination of an often fraught, decades-long effort to bolster the nation’s ability to detect and track missile threats from space.
The Lockheed Martin-built satellite is the sixth and final SBIRS vehicle to launch to geosynchronous orbit, about 22,000 miles above Earth. It’s slated to lift off at 6:29 a.m. Aug. 4 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The satellite will fly on an Atlas V rocket built by space lift provider United Launch Alliance.
The mission comes amid a major transition for the service’s space-based missile warning systems. As adversaries including China and Russia develop hypersonic weapons that are harder to track than traditional ballistic missiles, the Space Force and other Pentagon agencies are crafting a strategy for detecting such threats. The vision is for an expanded architecture that reaches beyond the large GEO-based satellites such as SBIRS and draws on smaller space vehicles with advanced sensors operating in a more diverse range of orbits.
Col. Brian Denaro, program executive officer at Space Systems Command’s Space Sensing Directorate, said SBIRS will remain an important capability as the department diversifies. The key to countering more advanced missile threats, he said, will be ensuring that satellites and sensors are integrated.
