Description
Objective: The United States Space Force (USSF), through the Space Development Agency (SDA), seeks to develop and mature affordable, high-performance midwave infrared (MWIR) sensor technologies for space-based missile detection, tracking, and defense. This effort aims to deliver a complete sensor prototype that demonstrates performance characteristics—such as sensitivity to missile plumes, radiation tolerance for extended LEO operations, and suitability for small satellite platforms—while achieving significant cost reductions. These reductions should be realized through innovative materials, manufacturing processes, and/or sensor architecture approaches, enabling scalable production and integration into the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) and other next-generation missile warning constellations. Description: The United States Space Force (USSF), through the Space Development Agency (SDA), is developing the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA)—a resilient, threat-driven constellation in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) designed to deliver global missile warning, tracking, and data transport capabilities. The Tracking Layer of the PWSA relies on infrared (IR) sensors to detect and track advanced missile threats, including ballistic and hypersonic systems. Current IR sensor technologies are often too costly, complex, or power-intensive to be deployed affordably and at scale in proliferated LEO constellations. To address this challenge, this topic seeks innovative, affordable MWIR (midwave infrared) sensor solutions that retain or improve upon state-of-the-art performance while significantly reducing cost and complexity. Target capabilities include: - MWIR operation in the 3–5 µm band - Sensitivity and noise performance sufficient for missile plume detection - Radiation tolerance for at least five years in LEO - Compatibility with smallsat constraints (mass, size, power, and bandwidth) - Prototype readiness for further maturation and eventual on-orbit demonstration - Projected unit production cost at least 30% lower than current comparable space-qualified IR sensors, supported by preliminary supply chain and manufacturing analysis Offerors may propose novel or proven approaches but must deliver a working prototype achieving Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 or higher by the end of Phase II. Emphasis will be placed on designs that improve manufacturability, leverage innovative materials or architectures, and support large-scale deployment across SDA and DoW missile tracking missions. Keywords: infrared sensors; MWIR; IR; Infrared; missile detection; missile tracking; radiation tolerance; detection latency; manufacturability; PWSA; Tracking Layer; pLEO