Raytheon has delivered to the Air Force Research Lab the “first rapid-development space optical payload,” states a company release. Brian Arnold, VP of strategic Systems, calls delivery of the $14 million Advanced Responsive Tactically Effective Military Imaging Spectrometer, which the company built in a “matter of months” a “milestone toward demonstrating the feasibility of the United States’ operational responsive space concept.” What will it do? ARTEMIS is designed to spot terrestrial targets. Arnold notes that it was built on cost and schedule, too. ARTEMIS is one of the payloads designed to fly on TacSat-3 on tap for launch in summer 2007.
As the Space Force prepares to field new fleets of satellites that can track moving targets in the air and on the ground, it’s working to ensure it has the organizational structures in place to onboard and operate those systems.
