Infrared Space Systems Directorate

Mission 

The Infrared Space Systems Directorate mission is to develop, acquire, and sustain space-based infrared surveillance, tracking and targeting capabilities for missile early warning/defense, battlespace awareness and technical intelligence. 

SBIRS contributes to the Department of Defense mission to deter war and protect the security of the U.S. by providing timely and accurate missile warning/defense information. The SBIRS systems are critical for protection against global and theater ballistic missile attacks against the U.S., its deployed forces and its allies. 

Background 

The SBIRS program is the follow-on capability to the highly successful Defense Support Program (DSP). DSP has provided early warning for Intercontinental Ballistic Missile launches for more than 30 years. The goal is to provide a seamless transition from DSP to SBIRS and meet the jointly defined requirements of the defense and intelligence communities. 

Currently the SBIRS program consists of two Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites, two Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) payloads riding on host satellites, and associated world-wide deployed ground systems. The procurement of a third GEO satellite may be awarded at a later date. 

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company is the prime contactor responsible for program management, systems engineering, and spacecraft development. LM Integrated Systems and Solutions is the ground systems developer and supports systems engineering. Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems is the payload subcontractor and supports systems engineering and ground mission processing development. 

SBIRS work locations include the SBIRS Wing at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Sunnyvale, and Azusa, Calif.; Boulder, Denver, and Colorado Springs, Colo.; Gaithersburg, Md.; Stennis, Miss. and Valley Forge, Pa. 

Organization 

The Infrared Space Systems Directorate, located at the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is home to more than 650 government, military, aerospace, and contractor personnel. The $26.9 billion portfolio of space and ground systems includes SBIRS and DSP. 

The directorate also provides some infrastructure support to the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) - formerly known as SBIRS Low. STSS is a Missile Defense Agency funded and managed program. 

SBIRS, formerly a system program office, became an Air Force Wing on July 30, 2006. In addition, two materiel groups - Space and Ground were also activated under the SBIRS Wing with primary responsibility to oversee acquisition execution of the principal product elements. 

Space Group 

The SBIRS Space Group is responsible for the development, acquisition, integration, launch, and early orbit operations of the SBIRS GEO satellites and HEO sensors; and launch, early orbit operations, and operational sustainment of the DSP satellite constellation. The Group consists of more than 100 government personnel and a contractor team of over 1,400 personnel, spread throughout the U.S. These systems are critical for protection against global and theater ballistic missile attacks against the U.S., its deployed forces and its allies.

The SBIRS Operating Location (OL) was established in the summer of 2006 and is located at the Lockheed Martin facility in Sunnyvale, CA. The OL is the focal point for the Space Group's Space Vehicle Division. The Space Vehicle Division manages integration, test, delivery, and launch of the first two GEO satellites. 

SBIRS GEO Satellite Features

· A2100 derived spacecraft, 12-year design life, 9.8 year MMD 

· ~10,000-lb predicted wet weight at launch 

· EELV launch capable 

· 3-axis stabilized with 0.05 deg pointing accuracy; solar flyer attitude control 

· RS32 rad-hardened single board computers with reloadable flight software 

· ~2800 watts generated by GaAs solar arrays 

· GPS receiver with Selected Availability Secure Anti-Spoof Module (SAASM) 

· Deployable Light Shade 

· ~1000-lb infrared payload: scanning and staring sensors 

- 3 IR bands: short-wave, mid-wave, and see-to-ground sensor chip assemblies 

- Short Schmidt telescopes with dual optical pointing 

- Agile precision pointing and control 

- Passive thermal cooling 

· Secure communications links for normal, survivable, and endurable operations 

DSP also falls under the leadership of the SBIRS Space Group. The most recent launch, DSP-22 was carried into GEO orbit by Lockheed Martin's Titan IVB launch vehicle and Boeing's Inertial Upper Stage in February 2004. The 23rd and final DSP satellite is scheduled to launch in 2007. DSP-23 will be the first operational satellite to launch atop Boeing's Delta IV Heavy Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV). 

Ground Group 

The SBIRS Ground Group provides capabilities to support transition, launch, and mission operations for both the GEO satellites and HEO sensors, and supports on-orbit operations for the DSP satellites. 

The SBIRS Ground segment is developed and fielded in blocks of capabilities and consists of four major components: two fixed operational sites, relay ground stations that send data back to the fixed sites, nine Multi-mission Mobile Processors (M3Ps) which are not currently funded, six sets of DSP Mobile Ground System (MGS) vehicles and associated communications links. 

Relay Ground Stations, located around the world, receive data from the satellites and forward it to the Mission Control Station (MCS) at Buckley Air Force Base, Colo. The MCS operates the DSP satellites today and will have the capability to operate the SBIRS payloads and spacecraft from this consolidated location in the future. The delivery of the MCS marked the first step in the deployment of SBIRS. 

Initial Operational Capability for the first SBIRS increment was declared in December 2001. The fielding of this capability consolidated numerous ground elements across several programs into an integrated ground architecture and provided an integrated training suite for the operational crews. 

The HEO Interim Operations (HIO) ground software was integrated into the overall SBIRS System in April 2006. This software is the first full ground software delivery since the Initial Operational Capability, and represents 48 percent of the Increment 2 software. Building on earlier incremental software deliveries, HIO will support the next phase of multi-satellite constellation in supporting the SBIRS mission. 

The DSP Mobile Ground System (MGS) consists of six sets of vehicles which provide survivable and endurable DSP capability during war time. The SBIRS baseline has the MGS projected to be replaced by the Multi-Mission Mobile Processors (M3Ps), which would be SBIRS compatible. However, due to the funding being removed from the M3P program, the future of the survivable and endurable mission is under study. 

Key capabilities within the ground system include detection, tracking, characterization, and reporting of missiles and other mission events of interest; mission planning and satellite constellation tasking; tracking, telemetry, and command; and system monitoring, management and configuration. The MCS generates launch reports that include missile type, launch point, time and azimuth; and predicted impact point. Data used from multiple satellites is fused to improve reports 

Ground System Features 

· Manages SBIRS constellation of two SBIRS HEO payloads, two GEO satellites, and legacy DSP satellites. 

· Key functions 

- Mission planning/payload tasking 

- Constellation management/TT&C 

- Mission Processing 

- Event Reporting and data distribution 

- Ground Control 

· Provides normal, survivable, and endurable operating modes 

- Primary and backup mission control stations and relay ground stations in CONUS and overseas 

- The Mobile Ground System currently provides survivable and endurable mission support (operated by the 137th Air National Guard unit). 

- Distributed high availability server architecture 

· Air Force Space Command 2nd Space Warning Squadron operates all fixed sites. 

SBIRS Capabilities 

SBIRS sensors are designed to provide greater flexibility and sensitivity than DSP and can detect short-wave and expanded mid-wave infrared signals allowing the system to perform a broader set of missions. These enhanced capabilities will result in improved prediction accuracy for global strategic and tactical warfighters. 

The SBIRS GEO spacecraft will be a 3 axis stabilized platform with a scanning sensor and a staring sensor. Sensor pointing will be accomplished with pointing mirrors within the telescopes. The GEO scanning sensor will provide a shorter revisit time than DSP over its full field of view, while the staring sensor will be used for step-stare or dedicated stare operations over smaller areas. The first GEO satellite is expected to launch in late 2008 and the second GEO in 2009. 

SBIRS HEO sensor is a scanning sensor similar to the GEO scanner with sensor pointing performed by slewing the full telescope on a gimbal. SBIRS GEO and HEO sensor raw unprocessed data will be down-linked to the ground, so that the same radiometric scene observed in space will be available on the ground. The first SBIRS HEO payload was delivered in August 2004 for integration and the second HEO payload was delivered in September 2005. The sensor sensitivity exceeded the specification for both payloads. 

In November 2006, the Air Force announced the successful on-orbit check-out of HEO-1. The HEO payload detects ballistic missile launches from northern polar regions as it operates in a highly inclined elliptical orbit. The first of a new generation of SBIRS sensors, this payload has improved sensitivity to detect dim theater missiles and can be tasked to scan off pole areas of military interest.