{"id":23389,"date":"2021-08-10T16:51:55","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T16:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2021\/08\/10\/digital-engineering-shows-promise-of-cheaper-more-flexible-missile-warning-constellations\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:18:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:18:25","slug":"digital-engineering-shows-promise-of-cheaper-more-flexible-missile-warning-constellations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/08\/10\/digital-engineering-shows-promise-of-cheaper-more-flexible-missile-warning-constellations\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-satellite weapons push military to rethink where it puts missile sentinels in space"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 For decades, the United States has used the same approach to detecting ballistic missiles from space: Put a handful of satellites with infrared sensors high in orbit and spread them out to achieve 24\/7 coverage of the Earth\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s largely worked. The Space Force tracks thousands of missiles a year, and in one high-profile case in 2020, America\u2019s premier missile detection satellite system was credited with giving a last-minute warning to war fighters in Iraq<\/a> who were able to seek shelter from incoming missiles launched from Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that constellation structure is no longer sustainable. The proliferation of anti-satellite weapons is challenging the approach. It no longer makes sense, U.S. military leaders have said, to put all of their billion-dollar eggs in one basket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the Space Force wants is a distributed architecture<\/a>, meaning more satellites for each capability that are layered in different orbits. Instead of just having a few missile warning satellites in geostationary orbit at 22,236 miles above the Earth\u2019s surface, the service wants to place some in medium Earth orbit \u2014 the area from 1,243 miles above Earth up to geostationary orbit.<\/p>\n\n\n\t