A US missile attack warning satellite has completed a major test that keeps the spacecraft on track for the 2028 launch. On May 24, Northrop Grumman announced that its next-generation Overhead Permanent Infrared (OPIR) polar satellite had undergone a preliminary design review earlier this month.

The preliminary review of the project “is the first milestone that demonstrates the maturity of the system for the mission,” Alex Fax, vice president of Northrop Grumman’s Next Generation OPIR polar program, told SpaceNews. “It is important that we get there on time on an accelerated schedule so that we can deliver the spacecraft on time.”

In 2020, Northrop Grumman won a US$2.37 billion contract for the US Space Systems Command to develop two next-generation OPIR polar satellites with infrared sensors to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles. According to Fax, the spacecraft “will travel in highly elliptical polar orbits, giving them the ability to see the Northern Hemisphere at all times.”

After completing a preliminary analysis of the design, Northrop Grumman will begin production and supply of key components of the spacecraft ahead of a critical design review scheduled for May 2024.

Northrop Grumman provides the Eagle-3 spacecraft and communications equipment for the next generation of OPIR polar satellites. Northrop Grumman is also working with Ball Aerospace to develop an infrared payload.

“The key feature of this payload is that it is virtually the same payload that was created for the Next Generation program. [OPIR] GEO,” said Fax.

Constellation of five satellites

The Space Forces Next Generation OPIR program includes five satellites: two polar satellites from Northrop Grumman and three geosynchronous satellites manufactured by Lockheed Martin under a $4.9 billion contract signed in 2021. Northrop Grumman and Raytheon are developing sensors for Lockheed Martin’s OPIR geosynchronous satellites. Northrop Grumman-Ball Aerospace’s infrared payload has already completed preliminary and critical design analyzes of the next-generation OPIR geosynchronous program.

Aaron Dunn of Northrop Grumman said that given the maturity of the payload, preliminary analysis of the next-generation OPIR pole design is an important milestone to “confirm that we can use this payload designed for both pole and GEO orbits.” vice president for strategic forces programs.

OPIR’s next-generation polar satellites are designed to detect the infrared thermal signatures of approaching missiles and transmit this information to the ground via a stable, secure communications system.

“Because we are in polar orbit and facing the Northern Hemisphere, we have a fixed view of the continental United States, which limits our reliance on overseas land facilities,” Fax said.