Midas Satellite

Once safe in space, a missile or satellite is hard to find (see above). But when it is first launched, its booster looses an enormous amount of heat that shines far out into space as a blaze of infrared radiation. At Cape Canaveral last week the U.S. attempted to launch its first reconnaissance satellite designed to take advantage of this fact. Called Midas (from Missile Defense Alarm System), the satellite carried infrared detectors, which will pick up a missile's hot exhaust trail as it rises above the hazy, moisture-laden lower atmosphere. From a satellite on a high orbit, the heat can be detected several thousand miles away.

Last week's Midas splashed into the Atlantic when the second stage failed to fire. But an operational Midas, presumably flying on a polar orbit, will be able to report a missile trail by radio signals that can be received at great distances by U.S. listening stations. If two or more satellites make a simultaneous report, the missile's position can be automatically computed with good accuracy. The Air Force is convinced that six or eight Midas sentries can keep the whole earth under surveillance, reporting almost instantly when and where a possible hostile missile has been launched. In case of a Russian long-range missile, it should give the U.S. nearly 30-minutes' warning--nearly double the 15 minutes provided by the best radar warning systems that are now being built.

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