L3Harris to begin pre-launch work on ‘Wide Field of View’ missile defense satellite
WASHINGTON —
A U.S. Space Force missile warning satellite,
six years in the works, is nearly completed.
The company that developed the sensor,
L3Harris, received a $9.3 million contract on April 6 to maintain and prepare the satellite for launch in 2021.
The contract is for pre-launch and post-launch services for the Wide Field of View missile detection satellite.
L3Harris
developed a staring sensor that was mounted on a satellite bus supplied by Millennium Space Systems, a subsidiary of Boeing.
The U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center
plans to send the satellite to geosynchronous Earth orbit no earlier than August 2021.
The Wide Field of View, or WFOV, satellite
will be part of a rideshare mission known as USSF-12, currently scheduled for no earlier than August 2021 on a United Launch Alliance rocket.
WFOV is a “testbed” satellite
that is not part of a missile-warning constellation but a stand-alone experiment.
At 1,000 kilograms,
it’s about one-fourth the size of the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) spacecraft
that currently perform strategic and tactical missile warning for the Defense Department.
SpaceNews.com