(HBTSS) Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor

2024: Launching new satellites into orbit

On February 14, 2024, SpaceX announced the successful launch of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle as part of the US Space Force USSF-124 mission. Hypersonic target tracking satellites have been launched into orbit.

The Falcon 9 missile launched from the 40th launch complex at the American Space Force at Cape Canaveral in Florida. About eight minutes after launch, the first stage of the Falcon 9 returned to Earth, making a vertical landing. Six spacecraft acted as payloads - all of them were launched into target orbits.

Space Systems Command

The launched satellites included two Missile Defense Agency hypersonic missile launch tracking vehicles USA developed under the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) program. In addition, four Wide Field Of View (WFOV) satellites 0B launched under the Tranche program for primary tracking of hypersonic missile launches by the Space Development Agency.

It is noted that spacecraft within the framework of the HBTSS project were developed by the American military-industrial companies L3Harris Technologies and Northrop Grumman. And all four WFOV satellites are manufactured at L3Harris: these are demonstration devices that will provide test data. The USSF-124 satellites withdrawn as part of the mission are in the same plane in a near-equatorial orbit.

This launch represents a turning point for the Missile Defense Agency as we enter a new phase of missile warning, tracking and defense, "said Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, director of the department.

WFOV vehicles will transmit primary information about hypersonic missile launches to HBTSS satellites to more accurately recognize and generate target designation data for ground-based interceptor missiles.^[1]

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