The U.S. Space Force, Lockheed Martin and United Launch Alliance have finished encapsulation of the service branch's next missile detection and early warning satellite into a launch vehicle fairing platform and integrated the spacecraft with a ULA-built rocket.
USSF said Tuesday the fifth Space Based Infrared System is scheduled to lift off Monday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida aboard an Atlas V rocket, marking the first National Security Space Launch mission this year at the military facility.
The satellite arrived at the station's processing facility on March 18 from a Lockheed facility in Sunnyvale, California, then underwent a series of final ground tests before the encapsulation and integration phase took place.
Lockheed built SBIRS GEO-5 on the company's LM 2100 bus and equipped the spacecraft with infrared surveillance sensors designed to help military personnel detect missile launches.
