MDA to sunset STSS, bring satellites down 'in a couple of years'

摘要

The Missile Defense Agency plans to decommission a pair of Space Tracking and Surveillance System satellites originally launched in 2009 -- assets that have already delivered three times their originally forecast service life, according to the agency's director. Missile Defense Agency Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill disclosed the development this week, discussing the rationale for the change in a pair of online conferences, noting the advent of the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor constellation -- planned to begin on-orbit testing in 2023 -- obviates the need for STSS. The STSS satellites validated the role of space-based sensors in acquiring, tracking, discriminating and reporting ballistic missile and intercept events from lift-off through midcourse to reentry. "We are going to sunset those" STSS satellites, Hill said May 12 at the online McAleese conference. "We're going to go ahead and bring those down in the next couple of years." The Pentagon has spent nearly $900 million on STSS since 2009.