Space Force launches billion-dollar satellite to warn of missile launches By William Harwood
May 18, 2021 / 3:48 PM / CBS News
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday, boosting a billion-dollar missile early warning satellite into orbit to scan the Earth below for the tell-tale heat generated by a threatening rocket launch.
Once operational, after tests and checkout, the new satellite will join four other Space Based Infrared System SBIRS spacecraft already in orbit 22,300 miles above the equator that use telescopes and state-of-the-art infrared sensors to provide early warning of unusual heat signatures.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket thunders away from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station carrying a billion-dollar missile early warning satellite.
US Space Force missile-warning satellite rockets into orbit
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A $1 billion missile-warning satellite for the US Space Force rocketed toward orbit Tuesday
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US Space Force missile-warning satellite rockets into orbit
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ULA to loft Space Force missile tracking satellite in first Atlas V launch of 2021
May 17, 2021
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 421 is at Space Launch Complex-41 (SLC-41) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of its mission to loft a new Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) military reconnaissance satellite into Geostationary transfer orbit. Liftoff of SBIRS GEO-5 is scheduled for 17:35 UTC (13:35 EDT) on Monday, 17 May.
The flight will mark the first 2021 launch of ULA’s Atlas V rocket and the second launch made by the company this year following the April launch of NROL-82 which utilized a Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle. The Atlas V is configured in the 421 variant, meaning it utilizes a 4 meter diameter fairing, two solid rocket boosters and single engine centaur upper stage.