The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has said the follow-on program to its missile tracking Space Tracking and Surveillance System (above) is likely to be one part for a multi-mission Defense Department satellite.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the Pentagon are studying the organization’s long-term need for sensors that detect ballistic missiles, a move that could help determine the size of the agency’s missile-tracking satellite constellation in the 2020s.

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Mike Gruss is the chief content and strategy officer at SpaceNews. From 2013 to 2016 he was a senior reporter at SpaceNews covering military space. Previously, he was editor in chief of Sightline Media Group and worked as a reporter and columnist for...