Space Force launches billion-dollar satellite to warn of missile launches

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday, boosting a billion-dollar missile early warning satellite into orbit to scan the Earth below for the tell-tale heat generated by a threatening rocket launch.

Once operational, after tests and checkout, the new satellite will join four other Space Based Infrared System — SBIRS — spacecraft already in orbit 22,300 miles above the equator that use telescopes and state-of-the-art infrared sensors to provide early warning of unusual heat "signatures." "The need for SBIRS systems has never been more critical," said Tom McCormick, vice president of satellite-builder Lockheed Martin's Overhead Persistent Infrared Missions division. "The threat of ballistic missile technology is spreading around the world, adversaries who we once held at geographic arm's length now tout their development of this technology.