First modernized SBIRS Missile Warning Satellite under Space Force control

Written by Copernical Team Friday, 21 May 2021 08:24

font size decrease font size increase font size
Print
Email

Write a comment

Buckley AFB CO (SPX) May 18, 2021

Following a successful launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida earlier Tuesday, the U.S. Space Force's Space Delta 4 operations team is now "talking" with the fifth Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (SBIRS GEO-5) satellite. As planned, SBIRS GEO-5-built by Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT)-is responding to the Delta's commands. Signal acquisition was confir

As planned, SBIRS GEO-5-built by Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT)-is responding to the Delta's commands. Signal acquisition was confirmed approximately ~36 minutes after the satellite's 1:37 p.m. EDT launch aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. Now separated from the rocket, the satellite is continuing on to orbit under its own propulsion.

SBIRS GEO-5 is the latest satellite to join the Space Force's orbiting Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) missile warning constellation equipped with powerful scanning and staring surveillance sensors. These 24-7, always-on, orbital guardians detect missile launches, support ballistic missile defense, expand technical intelligence gathering and bolster situational awareness on the battlefield.

"The world is a more threatening place now with more than 1,000 ballistic missile launches occurring globally every year," said Tom McCormick, vice president of Lockheed Martin Space's OPIR Mission Area. "SBIRS is the tip of the missile defense spear, seeing all those missiles and providing our military the ability to ensure our national security and the safety of our armed forces."

Faster, More Resilient Missile Warning
Built in about five years, SBIRS GEO-5 is the first military space satellite built on an LM 2100 Combat Bus, a version of Lockheed Martin's modernized, modular LM 2100 space vehicle with greatly enhanced resiliency.

The LM 2100 bus is the result of a Lockheed Martin internally-funded, multi-year modernization initiative. Features include:

+ Greater resiliency and cyber-hardening

+ Enhanced spacecraft power, propulsion and electronics

+ Common components and procedures to streamline manufacturing

+ Flexible design that reduces the cost to incorporate future, modernized sensor suites

"We designed our modernized LM2100 bus with our military customers' changing, more-contested environment, in mind," said McCormick. "By adding enhanced resiliency features to the LM 2100 we created an initial 'combat bus' for the Space Force for even greater capability."

SBIRS GEO-5 is a step toward achieving the resilient missile warning to be provided by SBIRS' follow on, the Next Gen OPIR Block 0 System. SBIRS GEO-6, launching in 2022, and the first three Next Gen OPIR Block 0 GEO satellites, as well as the future GPS III Follow On (GPS IIIF) satellites, are also based on the LM 2100 Combat Bus.

Lockheed Martin is proud to be part of the SBIRS team led by the Production Corps, Geosynchronous Earth Orbit Division, at the U.S. Space Force's Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California. Lockheed Martin Space, Sunnyvale, California, is the SBIRS prime contractor, with Northrop Grumman, Azusa, California, as the payload integrator.

Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly

paypal only

ULA postpones launch of missile detection satellite
Washington DC (UPI) May 17, 2021
United Launch Alliance postponed the launch of a missile-warning satellite for the U.S. Space Force from Florida on Monday afternoon. Liftoff of the Atlas V rocket had been planned at 1:35 p.m. EDT from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, but the company posted on Twitter that it was troubleshooting an issue with liquid oxygen supply systems. ULA also had announced a brief delay in the launch time Monday due to an object in space above the pad. Another attempt is now ... read more