The Missile Defense Agency has just received its second Space Tracking and Surveillance System Block 2006 sensor payload, built by Raytheon and delivered to STSS prime contractor Northrop Grumman. The agency expects to launch two STSS satellites with Block 2006 sensors, built from refurbished flight demonstration hardware, in late 2007 and to receive missile warning data as part of the nation’s growing Ballistic Missile Defense System over their two-year lifespan.
The Pentagon agency charged with building and operating U.S. spy satellites recently declassified some details about a Cold War-era surveillance program called Jumpseat—a revelation it says sheds light on the importance of satellite imaging technology and how it has advanced in the decades since.
