DSP 23 launch on a Delta IV Heavy, photo by Chris Bergin .By Andrea Shalal-Esa
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Northrop Grumman Corp U.S. military satellite used to track enemy missiles stopped working in mid-September, underscoring the urgent need to keep a program for replacement satellites on track, a defense official and several analysts said on Monday.
Loren Thompson, at the Virginia-based Lexington Institute, said he had learned of the problem with the Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite from several sources, and it underscored the urgency of getting the new Space Based Infrared Satellite (SBIRS) system being developed by Lockheed Martin Corp into orbit.
Theresa Hitchens, who heads the Washington-based Center for Defense Information, said several amateur astronomers had reported that DSP 23 [USA 197-LVH], the last of the U.S. missile-warning satellites built by Northrop, and launched in November 2007, had stopped transmitting in mid-September.
The U.S. government has launched 23 DSP missile-warning satellites into space since 1970, and experts estimate that six to 10 are still working, about double the number needed to watch the entire Earth at once.
The satellites have generally lasted longer than initially expected, which makes it even more troubling that the newest of the DSP satellites would have developed trouble a year after its launch, said the official and the analysts.
Read the full copyrighted Reuters story at
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4AN8FK20081124
Milcom Blog Facts
2007-054A 32287 DSP-23 Launch 11/11/2007 at 0150 UTC
DSP F23/IMEWS-23/USA 197
AFETR LC37B Delta 4H
This satellite is located in geostationary orbit at 11 degrees east.
Blog Editor Note: The failure of DSP-23 probably had a lot to do with this story I published on this blog earlier this month. http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/2008/11/kirtland-officials-accelerate-space.html
