A rocket’s-eye view shows a stack of SpaceX Starlink satellites just before orbital deployment. (SpaceX Photo)
By Morgan Artyukhina,
Sputnik News – October 7, 2020
The US Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA) awarded two contracts on Monday to build eight satellites for its upcoming infrared missile detection constellation. However, these are just the first in what could become a vast network of thousands of satellites in orbit.
On Monday, the SDA awarded information technology firm L3Harris Technologies a $193.6 million contract and private space company Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) a $149.1 million contract, each to build four satellites with a wide field of view (WFOV) overhead persistent infrared (OPIR) sensor, which the SDA is calling “Tracking Layer Tranche 0.”
