Breaking Defense:

While DARPA’s Blackjack program currently is exploring a handful of different payloads for small, cheap, low-flying satellites, only two are “likely” to be chosen to fly, says Stephen Forbes, program manager. Those are a radio-frequency package, and a missile warning sensor.

“I’m going to let the technical decisions drive that [choice], but I can say that, at the end of the day, we’ll probably end up with two different configurations … two different payloads,” Forbes explained in an interview.

While Forbes said nothing is set in stone under the multi-faceted effort, the Blackjack satellites probably will end up carrying a radio frequency (RF) system capable of both communications and geolocation, and an overhead persistent infrared (OPIR) missile warning payload. (Geolocation involves using radio signals to detect targets, and even track moving vehicles.)

“Those are actually our primary payloads that we intend to demonstrate,” he said, noting that each of those payloads would probably require a different bus design. This is because the requirements for satellite subcomponents such as antennas are different based on payload types…



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