US sends military satellite into space
Iran Press TV
Wed Mar 20, 2013 6:13AM GMT
The United States has sent a new military satellite into orbit in a bid to detect missile launches and provide early warnings for the US Army and Washington's allies.
The 192-foot (58-meter) Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Tuesday afternoon.
The satellite is the second of Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous (Geo2) satellites being built by Lockheed Martin Company for the US Air Force at the cost of $15 billion.
Once operational, the spacecraft will join an orbital surveillance network to provide early missile warning, missile defense, battlefield reconnaissance and technical intelligence for the US military and its allies.
The Geo satellites are equipped with two infrared sensors, one which continually scans the globe for missile launches and the other which can stare at a fixed point.
The US Army plans to replace the Defense Support Program satellite network, which has been operating for 40 years, with the Space Based Infrared System.
Referring to detecting incoming asteroids and other space objects, Air Force Space Commander William Shelton told a House Science Committee hearing on Tuesday, "We'll be able to tell you what type of missile it is. We'll be able to tell you where that missile is going. We'll be able to tell you where it's going to impact."
"Those infrared sensors can be used for other things, but they can't be used for predictive things out beyond Earth," Shelton stated.
Meanwhile, James Planeaux, who oversees the US Air Force's Infrared Space Systems directorate, has said that the space-based network detected nearly 200 missile launches in 2011 and an additional 1,700 "special infrared events."
Washington said on March 15 that it planned to deploy 14 additional missile interceptors in Alaska to strengthen its defenses against a possible missile strike by North Korea. Data from the US military's space-based monitoring network feeds the missile interceptors on their positioning and tracking information.
DB/HSN
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