Space News:
WASHINGTON — The fourth satellite of the Space Based Infrared System constellation has been declared fully operational, the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center announced June 6.
The billion-dollar SBIRS GEO-4, built by Lockheed Martin, launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 411 rocket on January 20, 2018.
“The satellite is healthy and sending data to the Mission Control Station, operated by the 460th Space Wing located at Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado,” the Air Force said in a news release.
At this point, the Air Force Space Command is accepting the SBIRS GEO-4 satellite into the missile warning architecture for real-world operations, said Col Ricky Hunt, senior materiel leader and overhead persistent infrared satellite systems chief.
