Originally posted by Realist05
There's been a lot of press lately about Sen. Jay Rockefeller objecting to the price tag of a new generation of spy satellite, with the speculation
that it refers to a photo-recon bird called "MISTY" with an inflatable shroud to provide stealth:
www.space.com
I was wondering if this may be a bit of mis-direction.
AWST had a report last month about the cost over-runs the Air Force was facing in developing two different types of satellites, known as SBIRS-High
and SBIRS-Low. (SBIRS, pronounced “sibirs,” stands for Space-Based Infrared System.) The SBIRS-High satellites will replace DSP satellites in
geosynchronous orbit. Unlike their predecessors, they are three-axis stabilized and their sensors “stare” at the ground continuously rather than
sweeping over a specific point every ten seconds, thereby providing much more accurate data. SBIRS-Low satellites, if built, will operate in low Earth
orbit and track missiles as they fly above the horizon, offering much more accurate information on their trajectories. Such information is necessary
for an effective anti-ballistic missile defence.
Here's a theory I'll throw out to the better-informed ATS readership- Is it possible that they are fielding a real-time capability to target all
flying objects giving off heat signitures?
If people wanted to criticize SBIR's they could mention it as much as they wanted, there would be no reason for this talk around.
Also, don't underestimate the current SBIR's capabilites, even though it doesn't have any new sattelites as of now it still is integrating data
from various sources to provide unique capabilites that DSP alone lacked.
