The Space and Missile Systems Center’s Remote Sensing Systems Directorate has successfully completed a critical test of the Space Based Infrared System’s new consolidated ground system. During the test, crews from the 460th Space Wing sent live mission messages to the Block 10 floor for the first time, according to a press release. Block 10 is the unified mission control center for the SBIRS. “This is a full function test flight of our new ground system, where our airmen conduct full warning and detection functionality combined with intensive spacecraft command and control of all three of our spacecraft constellations. This was our shakedown cruise,” Col. John Wagner, commander of the 460th Space Wing, said in the release. The Integrated Test and Evaluation Readiness Soak was the last test before formal evaluation of the Block 10 Increment 2 system by the Air Force’s Operational Test and Evaluation Center. The Air Force finished the capability evaluation phase for the system in December.
AFWERX, the Air Force’s technology incubator, is funding the development of an AI-powered tool for identifying and tracking objects in low-Earth orbit, even as they maneuver and try to cloak themselves.