First missile test to be tracked by satellites from Space Development Agency

The U.S. Space Development Agency expects its constellation of missile detection satellites to track its first missile launch in the coming weeks. The eight spacecraft, built by SpaceX and L3Harris Technologies and launched in three batches over the last year, make up the agency’s so-called Tranche 0 Tracking Layer. In order to draw data from a test flight, the agency’s satellites must be positioned over the area where the test is taking place. The agency doesn’t expect to reach global coverage, which will require about 40 spacecraft, for a few years. The agency’s missile tracking layer will eventually include at least 100 satellites. Tranche 3 satellites will have similar capabilities to earlier satellites, Tournear added, noting that the performance improvement will come from having more capacity in orbit.