DesignNews.com:

Recently, L3Harris Technologies was awarded a $121 million contract by the Missile Defense Agency to build an orbiting prototype demonstration. L3Harris was tasked to create a prototype for the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS). The project is a proliferated constellation designed for low Earth orbit that will be capable of detecting and tracking hypersonic weapons.

The constellation was designed to fill the gap in the country’s missile defense architecture created by hypersonic weapons. These weapons are dimmer than traditional ballistic missiles, which makes them harder to see with the nation’s infrared sensors based in geosynchronous orbit. The HBTSS was created to maneuver around terrestrial sensors. With China and Russia developing these weapons, the Department of Defense wanted to develop a new constellation to detect and track the threats anywhere in the world.

The HBTSS design solves the hypersonic weapon problem by placing the sensor much closer to the Earth’s surface in the lower orbit. This makes it easier to see the threat. Yet because the sensors are closer to the Earth, they have a far more limited field of view than the sensors in geosynchronous orbit. So, to achieve global coverage, the Missile Defense Agency wants a proliferated constellation made up of dozens of satellites in orbit…

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