Editing Strategic Defense Initiative (section)

==Sensor programs==
[[File:SDIO Delta Star.jpg|thumb|upright|Delta 183 launch vehicle lifts off, carrying the SDI sensor experiment "Delta Star", March 24, 1989]]
SDIO sensor research encompassed [[visible light]], [[ultraviolet]], [[infrared]], and [[radar]] technologies, and eventually led to the Clementine mission though that mission occurred just after the program transitioned to the [[BMDO]]. Like other parts of SDI, the sensor system initially was very large-scale, but after the Soviet threat diminished it was cut back.

=== Boost Surveillance and Tracking System ===
Boost Surveillance and Tracking System (BSTS) was part of SDIO in the late 1980s, and was designed to detect missile launches, especially during the boost phase; however, once the SDI program shifted toward theater missile defense in the early 1990s, the system left SDIO control and was transferred to the [[United States Air Force|Air Force]].<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Federation of American Scientists]] |url=https://fas.org/spp/starwars/program/bsts.htm |title=Boost Surveillance and Tracking System (BSTS)] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408232604/https://fas.org/spp/starwars/program/bsts.htm |archive-date=April 8, 2015 |access-date=March 10, 2006}}</ref>

===Space Surveillance and Tracking System===
{{Redirect|SSTS|"SSTs"|SST (disambiguation){{!}}SST}}
Space Surveillance and Tracking System (SSTS) was a system originally designed for tracking mid-course ballistic missiles. It was designed to work in conjunction with BSTS but was later scaled down in favor of Brilliant Eyes.<ref name="fas"/>

===Brilliant Eyes===
[[Brilliant Eyes]] was a simpler derivative of SSTS that focused on theater ballistic missiles rather than ICBMs and was meant to operate in conjunction with Brilliant Pebbles.

Brilliant Eyes was renamed Space and Missile Tracking System (SMTS) and scaled back further under BMDO, and in the late 1990s it became the low earth orbit component of the Air Force's Space Based Infrared System ([[SBIRS]]).<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Federation of American Scientists]]|url=https://fas.org/spp/military/program/warning/smts.htm |title=Space and Missile Tracking System] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150409020032/https://fas.org/spp/military/program/warning/smts.htm |archive-date=April 9, 2015 |access-date=March 11, 2006}}</ref>

===Other sensor experiments===
The Delta 183 program used a satellite known as [[Delta Star]] to test sensor-related technologies. Delta Star carried a [[thermographic camera]], a long-wave infrared imager, an ensemble of imagers and [[photometer]]s covering several visible and ultraviolet bands as well as a laser detector and ranging device. The satellite observed several ballistic missile launches including some releasing [[liquid propellant]] as a detection countermeasure.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=The Aerospace Corporation|url=http://www.aero.org/publications/crosslink/summer2001/03.html |title=Delta Star: an SDIO Space Experiment |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310123032/http://www.aero.org/publications/crosslink/summer2001/03.html |archive-date=March 10, 2007 |access-date=June 18, 2006}}</ref>