The Air Force’s 30th Space Wing, working with the Missile Defense Agency, NASA, and industry, successfully placed an experimental missile-tracking satellite in orbit Tuesday aboard a Delta II rocket launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. The space tracking and surveillance system advanced technology risk reduction satellite, or STSS ATRR, for short, is a small spacecraft that will serve as a pathfinder to validate next-generation sensor technology for future MDA space missions. “I’m very proud of our Airmen and mission partners for all the hard work they have put into this important mission,” said Col. Steve Winters, the 30th SW vice commander, in a release yesterday. Along with STSS ATRR, the Missile Defense Agency plans to launch two larger STSS satellites into space aboard a single launch vehicle around August from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. They are part of the space-based sensor layer that MDA is developing to detect missile launches, provide continuous target tracking, and pass tracking data to missile defense interceptors with the accuracy and within the timeliness necessary to enable successful target interception, according to an MDA release May 5
US Space Command Should Always Be Led by a Guardian
Sept. 12, 2026
General Stephen Whiting took command of U.S. Space Command in January 2024, and if customary three-year tenures hold, his tour would end in January 2027. The question now before the President and Senate is who should follow him? Whoever they choose, it has to be a Guardian—and so should every successor…
