Northrop Grumman has completed two ground test milestones for the Space Tracking and Surveillance System, taking the Missile Defense Agency-run program closer to its 2008 launch date. The site for the final ground segment acceptance test was Schriever AFB, Colo., culminating work begun more than two years ago, according to a company release. Schriever also was the site for the readiness test, a 72-hour event that proved the ground system could operate the first two STSS satellites. The system successfully demonstrated surveillance, detection, tracking, and reporting of a simulated test target launch from Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
