Missile Defense Alarm System
Encyclopedia
The Missile Defense Alarm System was an American
system of 12 early-warning satellite
s that provided limited notice of Soviet
intercontinental ballistic missile
launches between 1960 and 1966. Originally intended to serve as a complete early-warning system working in conjunction with the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System
, cost and reliability concerns limited the project to a research and development role. Three of the system's 12 launches ended in failure, and the remaining nine satellites provided crude infrared
early-warning coverage of the Soviet Union until the project was replaced by the Defense Support Program
, which served as a successor program. MiDAS represented one element of the United States's first generation of reconnaissance
satellites that also included the Corona
and Samos
series. Though MiDAS failed in its primary role as a system of infrared early-warning satellites, it pioneered the technologies needed in successor systems.
range in the Kazakh SSR
, the Soviet Union
launched Sputnik 1
, the world's first artificial satellite. The event, while a scientific triumph, also signified that the Soviet Union now had the capability to attack the United States with an intercontinental ballistic missile
(ICBM). The R-7
, the booster rocket
that launched Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2
, could be loaded instead with a hydrogen bomb, bringing the threat of a surprise nuclear Pearl Harbor-style attack on the United States
and Canada
. To give an early warning of any Soviet sneak ICBM attack, the governments of the United States, Canada, and Denmark
(with the authority over Greenland
, where the main radar station built at Thule, Greenland
) agreed to build the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System
(BMEWS). This system would use radar
to detect incoming ICBM warhead
s and give about 20 minutes of warning of an ICBM attack.
However, this system was hampered by the inherent limitations of radar systems and the curvature of the Earth. Due to the location of the Soviet Union on the other side of the Northern Hemisphere
, the potential Soviet ICBM sites were thousands of miles over the horizon from the BMEWS radar stations that were under construction at Thule and Point Barrow, Alaska (and later on, in Scotland
), and the BMEWS stations, as huge as they are, could not detect the ICBM warheads immediately after their launching. Only when the warheads had risen above the horizon could they be detected and warnings passed on by the U.S. Air Force.
Accurate calculations had already shown that the BMEWS system would give just ten to 25 minutes of warning in the case of an ICBM attack. The MIDAS system, as planned, would extend this warning time to about 30 minutes, giving the extra time needed for all of the Strategic Air Command
's nuclear-armed
heavy bombers to take off from their air bases, and hence proving to the Soviet government that it could not destroy these bombers in a sneak attack. Hence, the Soviets would be deterred from launching such an attack by a valid threat of nuclear retaliation
. In addition, the MIDAS system should have been able to confirm radar detections from BMEWS of a thermonuclear attack, hence reducing the chances of an accidental nuclear false alarm
from the radar system.
series of observation satellites and the still-classified SAMOS satellite
. The company that was to become the Lockheed-Martin Corporation
, which had been hired to design, develop, and manufacture the two series of satellites, suggested several other satellite programs to fill supporting roles, including a satellite that would use infrared sensors and telescope
to detect the heat produced by heavy bomber
s and ICBMs. In response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik and the appearance of the ICBM threat, Subsystem G was added to WS-117L before the end of 1957. With the creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), Subsystem G was taken over by that organization and given the codename MiDAS in November 1958.
In February 1959, ARPA submitted an initial project development plan to the Air Force. As defined in the initial proposal, MIDAS would use infrared sensors from high above the Soviet Union to detect ICBM launches and give early warning of a thermonuclear attack. The plan called for a 10-satellite research and development
program between November 1959 and May 1961. After that time, a full-scale operational system would be deployed.
Because the information collected by the MIDAS satellites was extraordinarily time-sensitive, the designers of the system could not use the film-canister dropping
system that had been pioneered by the Discoverer/Corona/Samos series of reconnaissance satellites. In that system, the camera
s aboard the satellites used photographic film
capsules that physically re-entered the atmosphere] before being retrieved by a flying military airplane. The MIDAS satellites would instead have to transmit their warning signals earthward via radio waves
. Actual infrared image
s would not be transmitted due to the limited RF channel capacity
that was available then. Instead, the satellite would simply send radio messages that it had detected a suspected missile launch as well as the time and location of the launch.
Multiple MIDAS satellites would be needed to provide round-the-clock coverage of the huge landmass of the Soviet Union. A booster rocket
capable of sending a satellite into geostationary orbit
had not yet been developed, and one or a few of these might not be able to cover all the possible ICBM launch sites within Russia, especially in the far north, near the Arctic Circle
. Satellites in polar orbit
s would be needed to detect launches from across the Soviet Union, but due to the nature of the polar orbit, each would have only a brief period of time above the Soviet Union. As the planned capabilities of the satellite changed during the design process, so did the plans for their deployment. A plans completed in January 1959 recommended a constellation of twenty MIDAS satellites orbit
ing at an altitude of 1,000 miles while a revised plan, produced later that year, envisioned a constellation of twelve spacecraft at 2,000-mile altitudes.
Implementing a complete system, estimated in 1959, was put at between $200 million and $600 million ($1.35 billion to $4 billion in 2006 dollars). Because of this enormous cost and the fact that several "unanswered questions" remained, the scientific advisory council in charge of advising President Dwight D. Eisenhower
on Early Warning systems recommended that a program of research be conducted but that final word on implementing a complete system be delayed for at least a year.
In FY1959, ARPA spent US $ 22.8 million (inflation adjusted US$ million in ) on MIDAS, and in FY1960, ARPA and Air Force a combined sum of US $ 94.9 million (inflation adjusted US$ million in ).
reflected from clouds as an enemy missile launch. The W-17 infrared sensor proved unable to detect the initial heat plume of a missile through the Earth's atmosphere, and only with the introduction of the W-37 sensor was a launch detected from orbit. Even with this success, the MiDAS system was hampered by unsuccessful launches that destroyed satellites and killed any hope of round-the-clock coverage of the Soviet Union. In addition, the lack of a continuous power source such as a nuclear reactor
or solar panels meant that the satellites' batteries were exhausted after a few short weeks in orbit.
Though the MiDAS program itself failed to meet expectations, it paved the way for the eventual introduction of the Defense Support Program
system of satellites that were first launched in the 1970s and provide early warning of missile launches today.
File:MIDAS Sensor, Infrared, Series III, Missile Defense Alarm System.jpg|MIDAS infrared sensor
Image: MIDAS infrared sensor.PNG|MIDAS infrared sensor
Image: MIDAS infrared sensor installation.PNG|MIDAS infrared sensor installation
Image: RTS-1 infrared payload.PNG|RTS-1 infrared payload
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
system of 12 early-warning satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
s that provided limited notice of Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
intercontinental ballistic missile
Intercontinental ballistic missile
An intercontinental ballistic missile is a ballistic missile with a long range typically designed for nuclear weapons delivery...
launches between 1960 and 1966. Originally intended to serve as a complete early-warning system working in conjunction with the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System
Ballistic Missile Early Warning System
The United States Air Force Ballistic Missile Early Warning System was the first operational ballistic missile detection radar. The original system was built in 1959 and could provide long-range warning of a ballistic missile attack over the polar region of the Northern Hemisphere. They also...
, cost and reliability concerns limited the project to a research and development role. Three of the system's 12 launches ended in failure, and the remaining nine satellites provided crude infrared
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
early-warning coverage of the Soviet Union until the project was replaced by the Defense Support Program
Defense Support Program
The Defense Support Program is a program of the U.S. Air Force that operates the reconnaissance satellites which form the principal component of the Satellite Early Warning System currently used by the United States....
, which served as a successor program. MiDAS represented one element of the United States's first generation of reconnaissance
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....
satellites that also included the Corona
Corona (satellite)
The Corona program was a series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites produced and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science & Technology with substantial assistance from the U.S. Air Force...
and Samos
Samos (satellite)
The Samos E or SAMOS program was a relatively short-lived series of reconnaissance satellites for the United States in the early 1960s, also used as a cover for the intitial development of the KH-7 Gambit system...
series. Though MiDAS failed in its primary role as a system of infrared early-warning satellites, it pioneered the technologies needed in successor systems.
Origins
On October 4, 1957, from the TyuratamTyuratam
Tyuratam is a station on the main Moscow to Tashkent railway, located in Kazakhstan. The name is a word in the Kazakh language and means "Töre's grave"; Töre, or more formally, Töre-Baba, was a noble, a descendant of Genghis Khan...
range in the Kazakh SSR
Kazakh SSR
The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Kazakh SSR for short, was one of republics that made up the Soviet Union.At in area, it was the second largest constituent republic in the USSR, after the Russian SFSR. Its capital was Alma-Ata . Today it is the independent state of...
, the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
launched Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 ) was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1s success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space...
, the world's first artificial satellite. The event, while a scientific triumph, also signified that the Soviet Union now had the capability to attack the United States with an intercontinental ballistic missile
Intercontinental ballistic missile
An intercontinental ballistic missile is a ballistic missile with a long range typically designed for nuclear weapons delivery...
(ICBM). The R-7
R-7 Semyorka
The R-7 was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War, and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1961, but was never deployed operationally. A derivative, the R-7A, was deployed from 1960 to 1968...
, the booster rocket
Booster rocket
A booster rocket is either the first stage of a multi-stage launch vehicle, or else a strap-on rocket used to augment the core launch vehicle's takeoff thrust and payload capability. Boosters are generally necessary to launch spacecraft into Earth orbit or beyond...
that launched Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2
Sputnik 2
Sputnik 2 , or Prosteyshiy Sputnik 2 ), was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit, on November 3, 1957, and the first to carry a living animal, a dog named Laika. Sputnik 2 was a 4-meter high cone-shaped capsule with a base diameter of 2 meters...
, could be loaded instead with a hydrogen bomb, bringing the threat of a surprise nuclear Pearl Harbor-style attack on the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. To give an early warning of any Soviet sneak ICBM attack, the governments of the United States, Canada, and Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
(with the authority over Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
, where the main radar station built at Thule, Greenland
Thule Air Base
Thule Air Base or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport , is the United States Air Force's northernmost base, located north of the Arctic Circle and from the North Pole on the northwest side of the island of Greenland. It is approximately east of the North Magnetic Pole.-Overview:Thule Air Base is the...
) agreed to build the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System
Ballistic Missile Early Warning System
The United States Air Force Ballistic Missile Early Warning System was the first operational ballistic missile detection radar. The original system was built in 1959 and could provide long-range warning of a ballistic missile attack over the polar region of the Northern Hemisphere. They also...
(BMEWS). This system would use radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
to detect incoming ICBM warhead
Warhead
The term warhead refers to the explosive material and detonator that is delivered by a missile, rocket, or torpedo.- Etymology :During the early development of naval torpedoes, they could be equipped with an inert payload that was intended for use during training, test firing and exercises. This...
s and give about 20 minutes of warning of an ICBM attack.
However, this system was hampered by the inherent limitations of radar systems and the curvature of the Earth. Due to the location of the Soviet Union on the other side of the Northern Hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
, the potential Soviet ICBM sites were thousands of miles over the horizon from the BMEWS radar stations that were under construction at Thule and Point Barrow, Alaska (and later on, in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
), and the BMEWS stations, as huge as they are, could not detect the ICBM warheads immediately after their launching. Only when the warheads had risen above the horizon could they be detected and warnings passed on by the U.S. Air Force.
Accurate calculations had already shown that the BMEWS system would give just ten to 25 minutes of warning in the case of an ICBM attack. The MIDAS system, as planned, would extend this warning time to about 30 minutes, giving the extra time needed for all of the Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command
The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...
's nuclear-armed
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
heavy bombers to take off from their air bases, and hence proving to the Soviet government that it could not destroy these bombers in a sneak attack. Hence, the Soviets would be deterred from launching such an attack by a valid threat of nuclear retaliation
Massive retaliation
Massive retaliation, also known as a massive response or massive deterrence, is a military doctrine and nuclear strategy in which a state commits itself to retaliate in much greater force in the event of an attack.-Strategy:...
. In addition, the MIDAS system should have been able to confirm radar detections from BMEWS of a thermonuclear attack, hence reducing the chances of an accidental nuclear false alarm
False alarm
A false alarm, also called a nuisance alarm, is the fake report of an emergency, causing unnecessary panic and/or bringing resources to a place where they are not needed. Over time, repeated false alarms in a certain area may cause occupants to start to ignore all alarms, knowing that each time it...
from the radar system.
Development and Costs
On March 16, 1955, the U.S. Air Force had ordered the development of an advanced reconnaissance satellite to provide continuous surveillance of “preselected areas of the Earth” in order “to determine the status of a potential enemy’s war-making capability.” The result of this order was the creation of a then-secret U.S.A.F. program known as WS-117L, which controlled the development of the first generation of American reconnaissance satellites. These included the CoronaCorona (satellite)
The Corona program was a series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites produced and operated by the Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science & Technology with substantial assistance from the U.S. Air Force...
series of observation satellites and the still-classified SAMOS satellite
Samos (satellite)
The Samos E or SAMOS program was a relatively short-lived series of reconnaissance satellites for the United States in the early 1960s, also used as a cover for the intitial development of the KH-7 Gambit system...
. The company that was to become the Lockheed-Martin Corporation
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company is a major unit of Lockheed Martin with headquarters at Fort Worth, Texas.Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is also based in Marietta, Georgia and Palmdale, California. Palmdale is home to the Advanced Development Programs , informally known as the "Skunk Works"...
, which had been hired to design, develop, and manufacture the two series of satellites, suggested several other satellite programs to fill supporting roles, including a satellite that would use infrared sensors and telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
to detect the heat produced by heavy bomber
Heavy bomber
A heavy bomber is a bomber aircraft of the largest size and load carrying capacity, and usually the longest range.In New START, the term "heavy bomber" is used for two types of bombers:*one with a range greater than 8,000 kilometers...
s and ICBMs. In response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik and the appearance of the ICBM threat, Subsystem G was added to WS-117L before the end of 1957. With the creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), Subsystem G was taken over by that organization and given the codename MiDAS in November 1958.
In February 1959, ARPA submitted an initial project development plan to the Air Force. As defined in the initial proposal, MIDAS would use infrared sensors from high above the Soviet Union to detect ICBM launches and give early warning of a thermonuclear attack. The plan called for a 10-satellite research and development
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
program between November 1959 and May 1961. After that time, a full-scale operational system would be deployed.
Because the information collected by the MIDAS satellites was extraordinarily time-sensitive, the designers of the system could not use the film-canister dropping
Samos (satellite)
The Samos E or SAMOS program was a relatively short-lived series of reconnaissance satellites for the United States in the early 1960s, also used as a cover for the intitial development of the KH-7 Gambit system...
system that had been pioneered by the Discoverer/Corona/Samos series of reconnaissance satellites. In that system, the camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
s aboard the satellites used photographic film
Photographic film
Photographic film is a sheet of plastic coated with an emulsion containing light-sensitive silver halide salts with variable crystal sizes that determine the sensitivity, contrast and resolution of the film...
capsules that physically re-entered the atmosphere] before being retrieved by a flying military airplane. The MIDAS satellites would instead have to transmit their warning signals earthward via radio waves
Radio waves
Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum longer than infrared light. Radio waves have frequencies from 300 GHz to as low as 3 kHz, and corresponding wavelengths from 1 millimeter to 100 kilometers. Like all other electromagnetic waves,...
. Actual infrared image
Thermographic camera
A thermographic camera or infrared camera is a device that forms an image using infrared radiation, similar to a common camera that forms an image using visible light...
s would not be transmitted due to the limited RF channel capacity
Channel capacity
In electrical engineering, computer science and information theory, channel capacity is the tightest upper bound on the amount of information that can be reliably transmitted over a communications channel...
that was available then. Instead, the satellite would simply send radio messages that it had detected a suspected missile launch as well as the time and location of the launch.
Multiple MIDAS satellites would be needed to provide round-the-clock coverage of the huge landmass of the Soviet Union. A booster rocket
Booster rocket
A booster rocket is either the first stage of a multi-stage launch vehicle, or else a strap-on rocket used to augment the core launch vehicle's takeoff thrust and payload capability. Boosters are generally necessary to launch spacecraft into Earth orbit or beyond...
capable of sending a satellite into geostationary orbit
Geostationary orbit
A geostationary orbit is a geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earth's equator , with a period equal to the Earth's rotational period and an orbital eccentricity of approximately zero. An object in a geostationary orbit appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky, to ground observers...
had not yet been developed, and one or a few of these might not be able to cover all the possible ICBM launch sites within Russia, especially in the far north, near the Arctic Circle
Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....
. Satellites in polar orbit
Polar orbit
A polar orbit is an orbit in which a satellite passes above or nearly above both poles of the body being orbited on each revolution. It therefore has an inclination of 90 degrees to the equator...
s would be needed to detect launches from across the Soviet Union, but due to the nature of the polar orbit, each would have only a brief period of time above the Soviet Union. As the planned capabilities of the satellite changed during the design process, so did the plans for their deployment. A plans completed in January 1959 recommended a constellation of twenty MIDAS satellites orbit
Orbit
In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...
ing at an altitude of 1,000 miles while a revised plan, produced later that year, envisioned a constellation of twelve spacecraft at 2,000-mile altitudes.
Implementing a complete system, estimated in 1959, was put at between $200 million and $600 million ($1.35 billion to $4 billion in 2006 dollars). Because of this enormous cost and the fact that several "unanswered questions" remained, the scientific advisory council in charge of advising President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
on Early Warning systems recommended that a program of research be conducted but that final word on implementing a complete system be delayed for at least a year.
In FY1959, ARPA spent US $ 22.8 million (inflation adjusted US$ million in ) on MIDAS, and in FY1960, ARPA and Air Force a combined sum of US $ 94.9 million (inflation adjusted US$ million in ).
Obsolescence
MIDAS was at best a qualified success — early problems included mistaking sunlightSunlight
Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total frequency spectrum of electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is filtered through the Earth's atmosphere, and solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon.When the direct solar radiation is not blocked...
reflected from clouds as an enemy missile launch. The W-17 infrared sensor proved unable to detect the initial heat plume of a missile through the Earth's atmosphere, and only with the introduction of the W-37 sensor was a launch detected from orbit. Even with this success, the MiDAS system was hampered by unsuccessful launches that destroyed satellites and killed any hope of round-the-clock coverage of the Soviet Union. In addition, the lack of a continuous power source such as a nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
or solar panels meant that the satellites' batteries were exhausted after a few short weeks in orbit.
Though the MiDAS program itself failed to meet expectations, it paved the way for the eventual introduction of the Defense Support Program
Defense Support Program
The Defense Support Program is a program of the U.S. Air Force that operates the reconnaissance satellites which form the principal component of the Satellite Early Warning System currently used by the United States....
system of satellites that were first launched in the 1970s and provide early warning of missile launches today.
MiDAS launches
- Mission chart from Astronautix and
| Name | Launch date | Mass Mass Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:... (kg) |
Launch site | Launch vehicle | Inclination (deg) | NSSDC ID | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midas 1 | Feb. 26, 1960 | 2,025 | Cape Canaveral | LV-3A Atlas-Agena A | |||
| MIDAS1 | Failure: Second stage failed to separate. | ||||||
| Midas 2 | May 24, 1960 | 2,300 | Cape Canaveral | LV-3A Atlas-Agena A | 33.00 | 1960-006A | Missile Defense Alarm System. Test launch with W-17 sensor. |
| Discoverer 19 | Dec. 20, 1960 | 1,060 | Vandenberg | Thor-Agena Thor-Agena Thor-Agena was a series of orbital launch vehicles. The rockets used Thor first stages and Agena second stages. They are thus cousins of the more famous Thor-Deltas, which founded the Delta rocket family. The first attempted launch of a Thor-Agena was in January 1959... |
83.40 | 1960-019A | Tested IR sensors for Midas program; did not carry camera or film capsule. |
| Discoverer 21 | Feb. 18, 1961 | 1,110 | Vandenberg | Thor-Agena B | 80.60 | 1961-006A | Tested IR sensors for Midas program; did not carry camera or film capsule. |
| Midas 3 | July 12, 1961 | 1,600 | Point Arguello | LV-3A Atlas-Agena B | 91.20 | 1961-018A | Missile Defense Alarm System. |
| Midas 4 | Oct. 21, 1961 | 1,800 | Point Arguello | LV-3A Atlas-Agena B | 86.70 | 1961-028A | Missile Defense Alarm System. Deployed subsatellites. |
| Midas 5 | Apr. 9, 1962 | 1,860 | Point Arguello | LV-3A Atlas-Agena B | 86.70 | 1962-010A | Missile Defense Alarm System. |
| ERS 3 | Dec. 17, 1962 | Unknown | Point Arguello | LV-3A Atlas-Agena B | |||
| Launch failed. | |||||||
| Midas 6 | Dec. 17, 1962 | 2,000 | Point Arguello | LV-3A Atlas-Agena B | |||
| 1963-014A | Missile Defense Alarm System. Carried ERS-3, ERS-4 subsatellites. Launch failed. | ||||||
| ERS 4 | Dec. 17, 1962 | Unknown | Point Arguello | LV-3A Atlas-Agena B | |||
| Launch failed. | |||||||
| Midas 7 | May 9, 1963 | 2,000 | Point Arguello | LV-3A Atlas-Agena B | 87.30 | 1963-030A | MIDAS 7 was the first operational MIDAS mission and the first equipped with the W-37 sensor. During its six weeks of operation, MIDAS 7 recorded nine US ICBM launches, including the first missile launch ever detected from space. |
| ERS 7 | June 12, 1963 | Unknown | Point Arguello | LV-3A Atlas-Agena B | |||
| Launch failed. | |||||||
| ERS 8 | June 12, 1963 | Unknown | Point Arguello | LV-3A Atlas-Agena B | |||
| Launch failed. | |||||||
| Midas 8 | June 12, 1963 | 2,000 | Point Arguello | LV-3A Atlas-Agena B | |||
| Missile Defense Alarm System. Carried ERS-7, ERS-8 subsatellites. Launch failed. | |||||||
| Midas 9 | July 19, 1963 | 2,000 | Point Arguello | LV-3A Atlas-Agena B | 88.40 | ||
| Missile Defense Alarm System. Did not eject ERS 10 subsatellite. | |||||||
| Midas 10 | June 9, 1966 | 2,000 | Vandenberg | SLV-3 Atlas-Agena D | 90.00 | 1966-051A | Missile Defense Alarm System. Left in transfer orbit. |
| Midas 11 | Aug. 19, 1966 | 2,000 | Vandenberg | SLV-3 Atlas-Agena D | 89.70 | 1966-077A | Missile Defense Alarm System. |
| Midas 12 | Oct. 5, 1966 | 2,000 | Vandenberg | SLV-3 Atlas-Agena D | 89.80 | 1966-089A | Missile Defense Alarm System. |
Photo gallery
File:MIDAS Sensor, Infrared, Series III, Missile Defense Alarm System.jpg|MIDAS infrared sensor
Image: MIDAS infrared sensor.PNG|MIDAS infrared sensor
Image: MIDAS infrared sensor installation.PNG|MIDAS infrared sensor installation
Image: RTS-1 infrared payload.PNG|RTS-1 infrared payload
See also
- Missile DefenseMissile defenseMissile defense is a system, weapon, or technology involved in the detection, tracking, interception and destruction of attacking missiles. Originally conceived as a defence against nuclear-armed Intercontinental ballistic missiles , its application has broadened to include shorter-ranged...
- Defense Support ProgramDefense Support ProgramThe Defense Support Program is a program of the U.S. Air Force that operates the reconnaissance satellites which form the principal component of the Satellite Early Warning System currently used by the United States....
- Space-Based Infrared SystemSpace-Based Infrared SystemThe Space-Based Infrared System is a consolidated system intended to meet the United States' infrared space surveillance needs through the first two to three decades of the 21st century...
- Air Force Space CommandAir Force Space CommandAir Force Space Command is a major command of the United States Department of the Air Force, with its headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. AFSPC supports U.S. military operations worldwide through the use of many different types of satellite, launch and cyber operations....
- SM-65 Atlas