SpaceX launching missile tracking satellites for MDA and SDA

Date:
Wed, 14 Feb 2024 19:08:15 +0000

Description:
SpaceX is set to launch the USSF-124 mission carrying six prototype missile tracking satellites for The post SpaceX launching missile tracking satellites for MDA and SDA appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

FULL STORY ======================================================================

SpaceX is set to launch the USSF-124 mission carrying six prototype missile tracking satellites for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and Space
Development Agency (SDA) on Wednesday, Feb. 14 at 5:30 PM EST (22:30 UTC).
The mission will take off from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida. The Falcon 9 booster will return to landing pad LZ-2 at CCSFS.

The forecast from the 45th Weather Squadron shows very good weather at the scheduled liftoff time with a greater than 95 percent chance of favorable conditions, slipping to 90 percent should the flight be delayed to Thursday.

This is one of three imminent launches for SpaceX from its three active
launch pads for Falcon rockets, along with the Intuitive Machines IM-1 moon lander and Starlink 7-14 flights. Depending on the order they eventually take off, one of these missions will be the 300th Falcon 9 flight, coming little more than a year after the 200th Falcon 9.



This will be the seventh flight for booster B1078. It has previously flown
the Crew-6 Dragon mission to the International Space Station, a pair of satellites for the SES O3B mPOWER constellation, and four batches of Starlink satellites. The two payload fairings will be recovered downrange by SpaceXs multi-purpose recovery vessel Doug . SpaceX VP of Falcon launch recently
noted on X that a single fairing half has now flown 15 times, with its 16th flight upcoming.

For this flight the second stage of the launch vehicle is sporting a gray stripe that is used to help control propellant temperatures during missions with an extended coast period. In a teleconference on Tuesday, Feb. 13, a senior SDA official described the orbit for these payloads as near
equatorial. The satellites will be deployed into a single orbital plane.

USSF-124 is the 11th National Security Space Launch (NSSL) mission for
SpaceX, and the second under the NSSL Phase 2 contract. B1078 rolling past
the Vehicle Assembly Building to SLC-40 to launch USSF-124. (Credit: Max
Evans for NSF)

The flight carries two Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) satellites for MDA. Northrop Grumman and L3 Harris each built one of these prototype Medium-Field-of-View (MFOV) missile tracking spacecraft. They are designed to be able to track dim targets such as hypersonic glide vehicles as they maneuver in flight, with sufficient accuracy to provide targeting data for missile defense systems.

Also on board are four Wide-Field-of-View (WFOV) missile tracking satellites built by L3 Harris for the Tracking Layer of SDAs Tranche 0 constellation,
the demonstration phase of the new Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). This is the third and final launch for Tranche 0. See Also USSF-124 Updates SpaceX Missions Section L2 SpaceX Section Click here to Join L2

Continuing to expand the supplier base for PWSA, the L3 Harris satellites are using optical communications terminals (OCT) made by CACI, as opposed to the TESAT developed OCTs used on the rest of the Tranche 0 spacecraft.

PWSA is focused on providing beyond line of sight targeting and advanced missile detection and tracking using satellites in low-Earth orbit. The overall constellation has two main components, the Transport Layer for communications and the Tracking Layer hosting the missile tracking payloads.

These satellites were originally intended to operate in the near polar orbit used by the rest of Tranche 0. When the completion of these spacecraft fell behind schedule, SDA took advantage of an opportunity to move them to the USSF-124 launch, minimizing delays for other Tranche 0 satellites flown in September 2023.

Launching these two groups of satellites into the same orbital plane will allow comparison of the different sensor types with the same targets, as well as the opportunity to demonstrate using data from the WFOV sensors to cue the more precise MFOV payloads. In the future, the HBTSS capability will be
rolled into PWSA. There are HBTSS payloads on some Tranche 1 Tracking Layer spacecraft, with similar capabilities planned for inclusion on the Tranche 2 Tracking Layer.

Some milestones completed so far for Tranche 0 include: getting first light from the payloads on the SpaceX built Tracking Layer satellites approximately 60 days into their mission; demonstrating the use of Link 16 communications from space for the first time in late November of last year; and closing
links between OCTs in orbit. SDA will work with MDA and other agencies to identify opportunities to demonstrate the capabilities of these satellites throughout the coming year.

The next phase of PWSA, Tranche 1, will begin launching with Transport Layer satellites in late 2024. Tranche 1 Tracking Layer satellites will follow in spring 2025.

(Lead image: Falcon 9 ready to launch the USSF-124 mission from SLC-40. Credit: SpaceX)

The post SpaceX launching missile tracking satellites for MDA and SDA
appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2024/02/ussf-124/


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