SBIRS Passes Another Milestone

The Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles reports that the first geosynchronous Space Based Infrared Systems satellite had completed the open-door space vehicle thermal vacuum test, marking “an important confidence-builder for the more rigorous testing” the GEO-1 will face in closed-door testing, said Col. Scott Larrimore, SBIRS Space Group commander. In a Sept. 17 release, SBIRS prime contractor Lockheed Martin said the satellite is now undergoing the closed-door testing in which it undergoes “the extreme hot and cold temperatures it will experience in space.” Dave Sheridan, Lockheed’s SBIRS GEO program director, said, “The entire team has worked extremely hard throughout our rigorous process of risk reduction and subsystem and baseline testing leading up to this critical test.” SMC last month announced completion of a 20-month software development effort. The schedule calls for delivery and launch of GEO-1 at the beginning of Fiscal 2011.