Boeing has acquired initial on-orbit signals from the U.S. Air Force’s first Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) satellite following its Sept. 25 launch by Orbital Sciences from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
    Boeing, which is responsible for overall program management, said the satellite is functioning normally and is ready to begin orbital maneuvers and operational testing. The SBSS Block 10 satellite was built for the Air Force by a Boeing-led team that included Orbital Sciences and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
    SBSS operators will perform health checks on the satellite bus over the next two weeks, followed by payload checkout. Tests include sending simulated space situational awareness tasks to the SBSS Satellite Operations Center, which will send commands to the satellite and collect data from those tasks for the Air Force Joint Space Operations Center. The SBSS system is expected to be ready to perform its mission and be turned over to the Air Force within 60 days.
    Once operational, the SBSS satellite’s space-based sensor will detect and monitor debris, satellites and other space objects without the disruptions from weather, atmosphere or time of day that limit ground-based observations.