 Sen – Space exploration network |
Lockheed Martin Space Fence Radar Prototype Tracking Orbiting Objects
Space Daily Space Fence will enable the decommissioning of the aging US-based Air Force Space Surveillance System (AFSSS), originally installed in 1961. With more than 60 nations operating in space today, the final frontier is much more complex than when the AFSSS … Prototype space surveillance radar approved by US Air Force New Debris-Tracking 'Space Fence' Passes Key Test Space Fence passes important first test |
Sen – Space exploration network |
Prototype space surveillance radar approved by US Air Force
Sen – Space exploration network By Amanda Doyle, 13 March 2012 The United States Air Force has approved the design of a new space surveillance radar built by Lockheed Martin. Called "Space Fence" the prototype ground-based radar successfully demonstrated its ability to detect space … debris-tracking 'Space Fence' passes key test Lockheed's Space Fence prototype up and tracking Space Fence prototype in operation |
 Space News |
US Air Force Deferring Upgrade Work on AEHF System
Space News The JSPOC is the Pentagon's nerve center for space activities, responsible for space surveillance, orbital collision avoidance and launch support. The Air Force is requesting $55 million next year for the JSPOC Mission System upgrade, an overhaul of … |
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Editorial: Promoting Responsibility In Space
Space News After repeated attempts to regain control of the spacecraft failed, the recovery effort gave way to a re-entry watch, with several nations deploying space surveillance assets to track the descent of the stricken craft. Among the participants were the … |
The development of an effective space surveillance network requires the creation of an comprehensive, accurate and trustworthy catalogue of objects in orbit. This forms the basis for the multitude of services such as conjunction prediction and re-entry warning are expected.
By comprehensive, the system must be able to those objects which may pose a threat to operational satellites. This means that they should be able to detect objects with a minimum diameter to cause a detectable or cumulative deterioration in the performance of a satellite. This minimum diameter is defined by both the kintetic energy contained within a piece of debris (related to the mass and velocity) and the probability that a satellite will be operationally damaged by the impact of such a piece of debris.
As with the diameter of an object, the accuracy that will be achieved is limted by numerous factors, these include the limits of the technology used, the number of sensors within the surveillance network and the observation conditions (at both sensor and target) when detecting a specific piece of debris.
When discussing the degree to which a system can be considered trustworthy, three main factors come into play. These are the degree of false readings created by a sensors, the method used to convert the detections into an orbit and the techniques used to relate individual detected passes to objects which already exist in the database. These are all affected by the way in which the sensor system is designed, the weighting or importance given to specific sensors and the actual technology employed when looking at orbiting debris.
In order to develop a system which provides the needed performance, as well as being economically viable, requires a careful monitoring of the interplay between the multiple factors which determine the final design. This is the purpose of the top-down stream of ESA SSA programme and development. Not an easy task – and there are no absolute answers – but in the area of complex system-of-system design, the Agency has a long history of successful and effective solutions.
When satellite imaging is mentioned, we usually think of satellites taking pictures of the weather, floods or downtown New York. This is one of the primary uses of satellites and one which has brought great benefits to many people. Within space surveillance, satellite imaging refers to taking pictures of satellites on orbit. But why would we want to do that?
One reason is when things don’t go as planned. Satellite operators cannot always see what is happening on the satellite directly, but rely on specific sensors to tell them if something has – or hasn’t – worked. This could be a signal to say that the solar panels have been set correctly. If this signal hasn’t been received, it could mean one of two things. Either the solar panel hasn’t been set correctly or the sensor has malfunctioned. But which one of the two is it? Sometimes this specific situation can be verified because there is no power being generated by the solar panel or the satellite’s attitude moves in such a way that indicates the solar panel is not sticking out of the side of the satellite body. In either case, an independant way to verify this would be useful.
Another reason is during re-entry. The way a space object is oriented can effect large changes in the re-entry profile. It can determine if the satellite will break up high in the atmosphere and these small pieces vapourise without touching the Earth’s surface or if the orientation will cause some drag or lift as it comes through the atmopshere and hence change the impact point. Being able to image an object as it comes close to re-entry and begins to be affected by the atmosphere can really help reduce the uncertainty in both these areas.
A final reason why satellite imaging is important is – as can be guessed – military. Having intelligence regarding the capabilities of satellites in orbit is very useful to military commanders. Using satellite imaging could be a good way to do this.
Of course any specific military requirments are out of the scope of the ESA SSA programme. It can be predicted that the resolution required to perform the first two functions of anomaly resolution and re-entry prediction is much less than that required for the third one.
 Whitby Today |
Base to fight extra-terrestrial attacks
Whitby Today Mr Luff said: “RAF Fylingdales is an important part of the North Yorkshire community and is also a vital component of our national security, helping to provide an uninterrupted ballistic missile warning and space surveillance service to both the UK and … |
Phobos-Grunt re-entry (image: Michael Carroll)
There’s a nice article with a portion of an interview with me on space.com here: http://www.space.com/14312-russia-mars-probe-phobos-grunt-conspiracy-theories.html.
Working together to be able to get the maximum amount of data spread over as much area as possible is critical to ensuring we can locate where re-entry objects could have landed. It’s a long road towards complete harmony, but the IADC is doing a lot of work towards that aim.
It could be quite a while before we know where exactly the probe landed – there may be a lot of data to sift through before a true picture emerges, but at the moment, I still think the probe landed in the empty areas of the Pacific ocean (just where we wanted it to go!). I hope that the prediction stays that way.
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British Defence Minister discusses space security
defpro In addition to experiencing first hand the importance of RAF Fylingdales, whose primary role is ballistic missile warning with the secondary role of space surveillance, the visit will help inform work that is being done to develop a National Space … |
 ABC Action News |
I see you: Spy versus spy in space with secret X-37B
ABC Action News The report also claimed technology has made space-to-space surveillance a "whole new ball game now." Really? It's common knowledge in the intelligence community that the US has been using satellites to "inspect" other orbiting hardware for half a … |