Air Force IR Sensor Delivered for Hosting on SES Satellite

SAIC has delivered an infrared sensor for Air Force use that will be integrated into and hosted on the commercial SES-2 satellite.  The SES-2 satellite is being built by Orbital Sciences and will provide commercial communications services.

The short and medium wave infrared sensor gets a lower-cost ride to space than a dedicated IR satellite and could be on orbit as early as around this time in 2011.

Called CHIRP (the Commercially Hosted Infrared Payload), the sensor assembly will provide wide field-of-view persistent infrared capabilities.

When the sensor is on-orbit, it will have a secure, two-way communication channel to the Air Force through a standard commercial telecommunication transponder.

Prompt Global Strike and the Hypersonic Technology Vehicle

The loss of DARPA’s Hypersonic Technology Vehicle, which probably disintegrated around the nine minute mark into its 30 minute flight profile, while no doubt disappointing to DARPA, was far from a total failure.

What caused the failure?  Under investigation, however, in Aviation Week, the word ‘recession’ used in describing the change in the HTV-2 in a high temperature environment (and not regarding the economy), is mentioned several times.  1 to 2 inches of recession was described as the expectation by Dr. Paul Erbland, the DARPA program manager.  I’m sure that’s the leading, if yet unproven, candidate.

What did work?  The launch vehicle, the Minotaur IV Lite (looks a lot like a Peacekeeper, doesn’t it?  There’s a reason for that).  This includes include stage separations, payload fairing separation, and payload separation (that is, the HTV-2 coming off a bus).

What else worked?  The sensors all along the range which will allow the DARPA and Lockheed Martin team to unpack the event.

Mach 20 was achieved and greater speeds than that–Mach 25 or so–are likely.

Defense Tech makes a great point about the vehicle’s unique “angle of descent, which makes it easily distinguishable from an ICBM.” (Emphasis added)

What are the critical enablers for a prompt global strike capability?  Intel and this sort of vehicle.