United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V has launched on her seventy-fifth flight, lofting the SBIRS GEO-4, a missile early warning satellite.
Mission Description: SBIRS, considered one of the nation’s highest priority space programs, is designed to provide global, persistent, infrared surveillance capabilities to meet 21st-century demands in four national security mission areas: missile warning, missile defense, technical intelligence and battlespace awareness.
The SBIRS team is led by the Remote Sensing Systems Directorate at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor, with Northrop Grumman as the payload integrator.
Air Force Space Command operates the SBIRS system.
Launch Notes: ULA also launched the first three SBIRS GEO missions. SBIRS GEO Flight 4 mission will mark ULA’s 125th mission overall since the company was founded in 2006. It’s also the 75th Atlas V launch since the rocket’s inaugural flight in 2002.
