The American Eye— Space-Based Sensors in Hypersonic Weapon Defense System (024)
Author: Lao Jun001
024 The Missile Defense Agency’s technical management of the Near-Field Infrared Experiment satellite;
The Missile Defense Agency has configured three types of targets for the “Near-Field Infrared Experiment”: dedicated launch, random targets, and ground event observation. The random targets include not only missile tests and rocket launches at altitudes of 100-1000 kilometers but also aircraft. This seems to demonstrate a certain capability for tracking airborne moving targets. Ground event observation includes bright infrared events, such as large-scale fires (January 2025 in Los Angeles), volcanic eruptions, or rocket engine tests, such as the current testing of the “Raptor-3” by SpaceX at McGregor.
Lao Jun001 written on September 23, 2025 Tuesday
The American Eye— Space-Based Sensors in Hypersonic Weapon Defense System (025)
Author: Lao Jun001
025 The Near-Field Infrared Experiment satellite carries a terminal developed by Germany;
In addition, the “Near-Field Infrared Experiment” satellite also carries a laser communication terminal (LCT) developed by Germany’s Tesat Spacecom for communication tests with the German TerraSAR-X satellite. The laser terminal on the TerraSAR-X satellite has a communication capacity of 5.6Gbps. According to a street magazine, this location was originally intended to install a satellite launch interceptor known as the “Near-Field Infrared Experiment—Kinetic Interceptor” (NFIRE-KV), but it was ultimately not configured due to poor interceptor performance, replaced by a laser payload (Lao Jun001 notes: this indicates that the kinetic interceptor device on the American satellite is currently not mature, and it also shows that the American Star Wars program is still not mature, highlighting how the Soviet leadership was misled at the time).
Lao Jun001 written on September 23, 2025 Tuesday
The American Eye— Space-Based Sensors in Hypersonic Weapon Defense System (026)
Author: Lao Jun001
026 The Near-Field Infrared Experiment satellite is configured with laser communication to achieve inter-satellite communication;
In addition to its data products supporting the “Space Tracking and Surveillance System,” the laser inter-satellite link terminal used in the “Near-Field Infrared Experiment” is planned for laser communication between the operational satellites of the “Space Tracking and Surveillance System,” but the first operational satellite cannot be configured.
Lao Jun001 written on September 23, 2025 Tuesday