Space Tracking and Surveillance System Satellites Built by NGC Successfully Launched

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Space Tracking and Surveillance System Satellites Built by Northrop Grumman Successfully Launched
UNITED STATES - 25 SEPTEMBER 2009

A critical space-based capability was added to America's ballistic missile defenses Sept. 25 when two U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) Demonstrator satellites built by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) were launched aboard a Delta II rocket.

"This demonstration will show the inherent advantages space sensors bring to persistent missile tracking and engagement," said Gabe Watson, vice president and STSS program manager for Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems sector. "Space-based sensors will augment existing radar to enable missile tracking through all phases of flight from boost through intercept."

The United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket, with the tandem-stacked STSS demonstration satellites secured in its nose cone or fairing, lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 8:20 a.m. EDT. Within the first hour after lift-off, the two satellites began separating from the launch vehicle, as well as each other, in a sequence of automated maneuvers that inserted them into low-earth orbit. During the next several months, the STSS Demonstrator satellites will undergo an early on-orbit test phase involving checkout of all space vehicle subsystems, ending with payload sensor calibration.

Lessons learned from the demonstration will be used by MDA to guide decisions about the development of an affordable, continuously available, operational, precision track space sensor constellation.

On Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the Space Tracking and Surveillance System Demonstrator spacecraft waits for launch. The STSS Demo is a space-based sensor component of a layered Ballistic Missile Defense System designed for the overall mission of detection, tracking and discriminating ballistic missiles. STSS is capable of tracking objects after boost phase and provides trajectory information to other sensors. NASA managed the successful Sept. 25 launch for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.




CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Space Tracking and Surveillance System Demonstrator, or STSS Demo, spacecraft built by Northrop Grumman lifted off through a cloud of smoke from Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. It was launched by NASA for the Missile Defense System. Launch was at 8:20:22 a.m. EDT. The STSS Demo is a space-based sensor component of a layered Ballistic Missile Defense System designed for the overall mission of detecting, tracking and discriminating ballistic missiles. STSS is capable of tracking objects after boost phase and provides trajectory information to other sensors.



Source: Northrop Grumman Corporation

 

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In Fiscal Year 2002 the SBIRS-Low program was restructured to reduce risk and fully incorporate the program into the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA’s) approach of building missile defenses through a series of steps, building incrementally on demonstrated capabilities. The resulting program has been renamed the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS).
STSS is being pursued as part of the MDA’s process of exploring a variety of methods to detect incoming ballistic missiles and pass this information to interceptors. These multiple approaches reduce overall system risk. MDA is investigating a combination of radar and optical sensor alternatives on land-, sea-, air- and space-based platforms of which STSS is one component.
MDA is developing a series of interoperable, low-earth orbit research and development (R&D) STSS satellites and supporting ground equipment for the detection and tracking of ballistic missiles. Data from STSS will be used to allow the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) interceptors to engage ballistic missiles earlier in flight and pick out the warhead of an incoming missile from other nearby objects such as decoys. As technology matures and as lessons are learned from the first satellites, more capable satellites will be designed and launched.
The STSS satellites will support the MDA’s Block 2006 Test Bed - a collection of components, short of an operational system, that will allow large scale, realistic testing. They are being built from existing hardware to contribute a low-risk capability to the Test Bed. The initial satellites will demonstrate the ability to detect and track incoming missiles and distinguish between the warhead and other nearby objects with space-based infrared sensors, and pass this information to BMDS interceptors. Data from the initial satellites will be integrated into the command, control, battle management and communication (C2BMC) element. Northrop Grumman Space Technology (NGST) (formerly TRW) is on contract to deliver these satellites and to work with MDA on the definition of the desired capabilities of the next satellites.
The first two satellites are planned were launched on a single Delta II launch vehicle in FY07. final launched 25 sept 2009 on the Air Force’s standard launch vehicle, the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV).

 

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The Missile Defense Agency is pursuing the Space Tracking and Surveillance System program as a space-based sensor component of the Ballistic Missile Defense System. The program uses sensors capable of detecting visible and infrared light. The Space Tracking and Surveillance System will become part of a constellation of land-, sea-, air-, and space-based Ballistic Missile Defense System sensors.
The STSS contract, with a value of $868.7 million, was awarded August 2002. The contract calls for completing and launching two satellites (designated Cycle 1, Flights 1 and 2) in the FY06 and FY07 time frame. The the SBIRS Low Flight Development System (FDS) spacecraft buses developed by Northrop Grumman Space Technology (formerly TRW Space & Electronics) and the FDS infrared sensor payloads developed by Raytheon are the basis for Flights 1 and 2 of Cycle 1 of the current R&D phase.
Both satellites’ acquisition and tracking sensors, which are the satellites’ payloads, were delivered in 2006. However, continuing quality and workmanship problems with the first satellite’s payload as well as space vehicle integration and test issues, according to MDA, caused the contractor to overrun its fiscal year 2006 budget and experience schedule delays. This and a funding reduction have caused a 5-month slip in the launch date for the demonstration satellites. As of mid-2007 the launch was scheduled for December 2007. As of January 2008 launch of the pair of satellites was scheduled for 4QFY2008.
The STSS Demonstration Satellites effort is being pursued through a single prime contractor, Northrop Grumman Space Technology (NGST), with the subcontractor Raytheon providing the sensor payload. The program develops a ground station at the MDSEC and series of R&D satellites aligned to the BMDS.
STSS will serve as the satellite network that will detect and track missiles throughout their flight and relay necessary cuing data to other elements in the missile defense system. The satellites will orbit the earth at low altitudes in order to allow for better missile viewing angles and high resolution. The satellites will operate about 1,350 kilometers above the earth. By comparison, satellites in geo-synchronous orbit operate at about 36,000 kilometers. Each satellite will contain two infrared sensors—one to watch for bright missile plumes during the boost phase (acquisition sensor) and one to follow the missile through midcourse and reentry (tracking sensor). To provide for worldwide coverage, STSS would consist of a large constellation of satellites (between 21 and 28) as well as a supporting ground infrastructure.
The program office planned to define the capabilities for the follow-on satellite in mid-2003 and until then, the design, technologies, and specifications for the new satellite will not be known. Work on the new satellite will be stretched out, but MDA hopes to launch the new satellite in 2011, only 1 year later than planned. The STSS program office programmed about $1 billion to complete work, launch, and operate the legacy satellites and $1.3 billion for fiscal years 2004 through 2009 for work on the new, follow-on satellite effort. As of March 2007 delivery of the first operational STSS satellite was slipped from 2012 to the 2016-2017 timeframe, prolonging the time MDA will be without a capability to integrate the system globally.

 

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In February, for example, France launched a pair of demonstration micro-FSATs known as Spirale to detect missile launches using infrared sensors, and now the US will do the same thing with its Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) demonstration. The important role of micro-FSATs in so-called "battlespace" and "counterspace" operations is obvious. (Asia Times Online)