Responsive Microsatellite Target System Design Implementation

The Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Advanced Systems group is seeking novel techniques to enable coherent, accurate, and sustained operation of distributed aperture phased array radars. New techniques are required to improve discrimination capability and reduce countermeasures susceptibility. MicroSat Systems, Inc. (MSI), a small satellite developer with significant experience in low cost, rapid integration and test, has generated an innovative low cost core bus design for target systems using microsatellite technology for a Responsive Microsatellite Target System (RMTS). The simulated re-entry vehicle and decoys will fly in an orbit meant to emulate threat trajectories. The MDA’s Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) while searching for threats will acquire and identify these simulated threats. The BMDS system will then attempt to discriminate between the re-entry vehicle and the decoy from multiple ground locations. RTMS will send down encrypted truth data including position, time, velocity and temperature to validate the data acquired using the BMDS system. With the frequent targeting opportunities provided by the RMTS vehicle the BMDS system will benefit by the capability to perform frequent low cost calibrations.