Goodrich and ATK are beginning to manufacture a one-of-a-kind reconnaissance satellite that will be launched by the end of next year to support urgent needs from military leaders overseeing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Called Operationally Responsive Space-1 (ORS-1), the spacecraft is needed to provide a new layer of electro-optical and infrared reconnaissance to airborne collectors, such as unmanned aerial systems and high-altitude aircraft, as well as to the sophisticated national intelligence satellites overhead.

The key advantages of ORS-1 will be its quick launch -- the goal is to loft it within 24 months of authorization to build (which came late last year) -- and its ability to peer into places such as Iran, where allied aircraft cannot spy. ORS-1 also will be positioned to support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it may be able to observe Pakistan to support anti-terrorist activities there.

Additionally, unlike national systems, ORS-1's EO/IR sensor will be tasked directly by military leaders in U.S. Central Command (Centcom). Satellites operated by the National Reconnaissance Office are managed through a centralized system that commanders often complain is not responsive to their tactical needs.

The payload is derived from Goodrich's work on the U-2's highly sophisticated EO/IR camera, the most recent generation of which is the Senior Year Electro-Optical Reconnaissance System (Syers) 2A. "Syers is a multispectral EO/IR imager, and ORS-1 will also provide that same multispectral EO/IR capability," said Charles Cox, a special projects director for Goodrich, during an interview at the Strategic Space conference here.

From its inception, ORS-1 is being designed to specifically serve tactical commanders rather than U.S.-based intel analysts; this is a sea change in satellite projects. Included in the work order is the design of a "translator." This will enable the Pentagon's intelligence ground stations (including the Distributed Common Ground Station network, which processes Predator, Global Hawk and U-2 data) to handle ORS-1 imagery. "We take the image that is downlinked and translate it into a format that looks just like U-2 data," says Cox. "All of the downstream data processing and dissemination channels that are used routinely to support the warfighter for the U-2 imagery can be used for ORS-1."

The satellite, which will top out at about 450 kg. (990 lb.), will be boosted by a Minotaur-1 into an orbit chosen for its suitability to overfly Centcom multiple times a day. ORS-1 will also pass over Air Force Satellite Control Network nodes, which will uplink sensor taskings, several times a day. Cox says this will give commanders access to the imagery within minutes, rather than waiting hours or days for a response from the intel system supporting classified satellites. "The targets are defined by the commander in the field, and then the operation of the satellite is to specifically collect against those targets," Cox says.

ORS-1's value is its responsiveness. It is not designed to be a silver bullet, but rather to contribute to the growing echelon of systems collecting information in Centcom. "Just as in the airborne world you use the strategic U-2 and Global Hawk -- high-flying, very capable sensors, and then you would have the lower flying tactical systems -- it is sort of the same idea here," Cox says. "You have the exquisite space systems and you have the ORS type system that is more akin to the tactical UAVs. So, it doesn't necessarily have to provide super-high resolution; it has to provide sufficient resolution so that you can take action." That action could be cueing other intelligence sensors onto a target for identification or verification. However, like its Syers-2A ancestors, the payload in ORS-1 can provide geolocation data for objects in its field of view; this would allow targeting quality data for a strike if needed.

ORS-1 will be housed on the same ATK bus that was used for Tacsat-3, also a quick-reaction satellite. However, unlike Tacsat-3, ORS-1's bus will include a propulsion module. The requirement is to last one year in orbit; but Cox says there will be sufficient fuel for 2-4 years of operation, depending on how much station-keeping and maneuvering is needed.

Payload and satellite integration will take place through the early part of next year at Goodrich's Danbury, Conn., facility. Space vehicle testing will be carried out next summer and fall. In keeping with the ORS philosophy of fielding spacecraft faster than would the traditional acquisition process, this satellite will undergo a streamlined test regimen. "There have been conscious decisions among the team . . . as to what is the right balance between testing to gain specific confidence versus the traditional testing one would do," Cox says.

Once in orbit, the satellite is designed to begin providing imagery within one week, says Cox. However, the Air Force will decide how much in-orbit checkout is required before declaring the system operational.

Goodrich/ATK's contract is being managed by the Space Development and Test Wing, which is part of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center's Operationally Responsive Space squadron.

Image: Goodrich