The Military Mission In Space

The Air Force is constantly monitoring the skies, but that isn’t limited to our atmosphere.  Keeping our military satellites up and running is tantamount to mission success, and working to improve that equipment and technology is a part of the ever-growing advancement of our military mission in space.

The Space Control Center in Cheyenne Mountain Air Station (NORAD) is the terminus for the SSN’s abundant and steady flow of information. The SCC houses large, powerful computers to process SSN information and accomplish the space surveillance and space control missions.

The NAVSPACECOM provides the site and personnel for the Alternate SCC (ASCC). The ASCC would take over all operations in the event the SCC could not function. This capability is exercised frequently.

The Orbital Space Debris

USSPACECOM tracks about 8,000 man-made space objects, baseball-size and larger, orbiting Earth. The space objects consist of active/inactive satellites, spent rocket bodies, or fragmentation. About seven percent are operational satellites, 15 percent are rocket bodies, and about 78 percent are fragmentation and inactive satellites.

Most debris (about 84 percent) is out approximately 800 kilometers – roughly twice the normal altitude of the space shuttle which orbits at about 300 kilometers.

Only a small amount of debris exists where the shuttle orbits.

The likelihood of a significant collision between a piece of debris (10 centimeters or larger) and the shuttle is extremely remote. The statistical estimate is one chance in 10,000 years, in the worst case. The probability is higher for objects smaller-than-baseball size which currently cannot be tracked with available sensors.

Although 8,000 space objects seems like a large number, in the 800 kilometer band there are normally only three or four items in an area roughly equivalent to the airspace over the continental U.S. up to an altitude of 30,000 feet. Therefore, the likelihood of collision between objects is very small.

Through the SSN, the command tracks and catalogs all space objects orbiting Earth which are 10 centimeters or larger. During shuttle missions, the center computes possible close approaches of other orbiting objects with the shuttle’s flight path. NASA is also advised of space objects which come within a safety box that measures 10 by 10 by 50 kilometers of the orbiter.

The Future of Space Observation

The shuttles might be collecting dust in museums these days, but the need to advance our satellite and observation technology is a crucial part of the military mission in space.  Different things affect different parts of our planet, our satellites, and even our technology.  Continuing the advancement of understanding and prevention of solar weather could make a big difference.

Dr. Alex Young, Solar Physicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, explains how the sun affects our planet and technology, and what the future looks like for space prediction.  Did you know that solar flares don’t actually “hit” the Earth?  Dr. Young explains:

The more we learn and understand the universe, the easier it will be to reach out and touch it someday.  The Air Force is keeping an eye on all the skies, including the extraterrestrial ones.  Today satellite and space weather obervation, tomorrow first contact.

Hey, a blogger can dream, right?

Information for this post provided by the U.S. Air Force Space Surveillance Network

Space Weather, Satellites and the Sun

When service members go out on patrol, they keep a weather eye out for any dangers or unknown variables that might impact the mission.  When space surveillance specialists go out on the job, they’re keeping an eye on the skies, and in more ways than one.

Space surveillance is a critical part of USSPACECOM‘s mission and involves detecting, tracking, cataloging and identifying man-made objects orbiting Earth, i.e. active/inactive satellites, spent rocket bodies, or fragmentation debris.

Space surveillance can predict when and where a decaying space object will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and prevent a returning space object.  To radar, these can look like a missile, and even trigger a false alarm from missile-attack warning sensors of the U.S. and other countries.

Therefore, it’s important that we monitor the skies as much as we monitor anything that impacts us as a nation, and in this case, as a planet.

Space surveillance can also chart the present position of space objects and plot their anticipated orbital paths.  This means detecting new man-made objects in space, producing a running catalog of man-made space objects, determining which country owns a re-entering space object, and  informing NASA whether or not objects may interfere with the space shuttle and Russian Mir space station orbits.

The command accomplishes these tasks through its Space Surveillance Network (SSN) of U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force operated, ground-based radar’s and optical sensors at 25 sites worldwide.

One of the things that affects our satellites – and something we have to be cognizant of – is space weather, and specifically, solar weather.  Dr. Alex Young, Solar Physicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, explains how the sun is making scientific waves in our daily lives.

National Security In Space

by Master Sgt. Kevin Williams

Air Force Space Command Public Affairs

The Air Force chief of staff spoke to leaders from industry, academia and the government about the current state of national security space and the U.S. aerospace industrial base at the 28th National Space Symposium.

In his remarks, Gen. Norton Schwartz also recognized the efforts and accomplishments of the Air Force’s major command charged with delivering military-focused space and cyberspace capabilities to the joint warfighting team.

“Operating at 134 locations around the world, the 42,000 Airmen, government civilians and contractors of Air Force Space Command are dedicated and trusted stewards of approximately 85 percent of the Defense Department‘s budget for space, providing space and cyber capabilities that, according to the new Defense Strategic Guidance, are absolutely vital to the conduct of high-tempo, effective operations by modern armed forces — particularly ours,” Schwartz said.

Capabilities and services such as spacelift; secured, high-volume and long-haul communications; space situational awareness; precision navigation and timing; missile warning; and weather forecasting are some of the indispensable enablers that are and will continue to be relevant in both combat and non-military environments alike, the general said.

As the Air Force contends with fewer defense dollars and implements a new defense strategy, Schwartz said space will remain a top priority when it comes to service investments.

“Even with the extraordinary budget pressures we face, we are protecting and, in some cases, increasing investment in our top acquisition priorities,” he said. “Space acquisitions represents 21 percent of all Air Force investment spending, including four of 10 of our largest procurement programs.”

Space-borne capabilities have played and will continue to play a prominent role in the collective U.S. joint team capabilities, Schwartz said.

“In total, our fiscal year 2013 budget request includes about $9.6 billion for investments in our space programs to help us maintain overall preparedness in addressing a wide range of contingencies,” he said.

Space capabilities showed their importance to contingency operations during the recent humanitarian and disaster relief activity in the Far East and the combat operations in North Africa, he said.

“Behind the scenes of cargo airlift in Japan, or fighters and bombers in the air above Libya, was our Joint Space Operations Center providing a full range of reach-back space capabilities for theater commanders around the world,” Schwartz said.

The general also addressed the importance of a strong partnership between the U.S. government and aerospace industry.

“The government will continue to rely on the expertise, creativity, innovation and productivity of private industry — again, throughout the entire chain of materiel and service providers, large and small — while it works to ensure the least onerous regulatory regime possible,” Schwartz said.

As an example, he pointed to the proposal announced April 18 to normalize export control of satellites and related components by moving their jurisdiction from the U.S. Munitions to the Commerce Control List.

“While the government must continue to maintain reliable funding streams and avoid requirements creep, industry must continue to deliver capabilities on cost and on time to America’s warfighters,” Schwartz said.

The general concluded his speech by stating his belief that the air and space capabilities the Air Force provides will continue to be important to the nation.

“With many indicators that presage a continuing upward trend of air and space power’s importance to our national interests and our daily lives, the ability for those who aspire to take to the skies and into the heavens, to pursue their lofty aspirations, remains as promising and inspiring as it was for so many of us over recent decades,” Schwartz said.

“Together, we can — and must — further pick up the pace to maintain our leadership in air and space.”

General: Space Capability Integral to All Military Operations

By Cheryl Pellerin

 American Forces Press Service

Space capabilities have become integral to all military operations, the commander of Air Force Space Command told reporters here during a Defense Writers Group breakfast yesterday.

“It’s hard to imagine what life was like before we had … GPS providing very accurate targeting capability, military satellite communications providing all the reach-back that’s needed, [and] missile warning providing cover for our deployed forces,” Air Force Gen. William L. Shelton said.

The Air Force launched and maintains the 24 satellites that make up the GPS navigation system. The all-weather, 24-hour system was intended for military use, but in 1983 President Ronald Reagan made it freely available to civilians, for the public good, after a Korean Air Lines flight carrying 269 people was shot down for straying into Soviet airspace.

The first GPS satellite was launched in 1989, and the 24th in 1994. In 2000, Congress authorized a modernization effort called GPS-III that will improve position, navigation and timing services and add advanced anti-jam capabilities to the constellation.

“The biggest concern is that GPS’s signal is a very weak [one],” Shelton said. “It’s a spread-spectrum signal, and it is not difficult to jam. … In fact, you can buy [a GPS jammer] online, and we’re starting to see even criminal elements use GPS jamming to cover their tracks. The game afoot here is to continue to drive a no-kidding adversary to higher powers of their jammers. Once you get to a significant power level, those are called targets.”

The Air Force is cranking up power on the satellites to force adversaries to use higher-power jammers that can then be found and targeted, Shelton said.

“One of the design features of GPS-III is higher power,” Shelton said, “and we also can do some things with antenna technology and the way we operate our platforms to protect ourselves from jamming.”

For the Air Force satellite effort, space launch — getting satellites from Earth to orbit — is truly foundational, Shelton said. In 2011, the Defense Department and intelligence community succeeded in all 49 attempts to launch evolved expendable launch vehicles, or EELVs, that carried satellites into orbit.

The Air Force EELV program, replacing the existing launch fleet with two families of vehicles that use common components and infrastructure, seeks to make space launch more reliable and affordable, the general explained.

United Launch Alliance, which Shelton called “the only supplier of the full gamut of launch capabilities,” now handles space launches for the Defense Department, NASA, and the intelligence community — including the National Reconnaissance Office, the government agency that designs, builds, launches and maintains U.S. intelligence satellites.

ULA, formed in 2006, is a joint venture by Lockheed Martin and the Boeing Co. that uses Atlas V and Delta II and Delta IV launch vehicles to support strategic U.S. space initiatives.

“We are very proud of our success record in the launch business, unprecedented in the history of space flight, … but at the same time, with costs spiraling like they are, we have to take action to reduce the cost,” Shelton said.

One action, he said, is to ask ULA to come in with priced options for booster cores, or rocket stages, over three to five years. “Somewhere in there,” the general added, “we believe there will be a sweet spot for us.”

The other action, Shelton said, is to use commercial services whenever possible, citing military use of wideband communications as an example.

“If all I’m concerned about is volumes of data moving around in space and ultimately down on the ground, commercial space knows how to do that very well and very economically,” he explained. “If you look at the bandwidth coming back from Afghanistan, somewhere in the 70 percent to 80 percent range is commercial satellite communications. We’ve already proven in warfare that we can rely on commercial satellite communication.”

But the services must be assured of worldwide capability, the general said.

“If you tell me where I’m going to fight, it’s easy,” Shelton said. “But if I have to protect the capability to fight anywhere, any time, can I do it commercially, or do I have to have a dedicated military capability to do that? Those are all the kinds of things we are exploring with the commercial community.”

Using commercial space launch services for national security satellite launches is not an option today, he said, because the capability doesn’t yet exist in the commercial world.

“A national security payload on top of a commercial asset has to be a proven capability,” Shelton said. “When you’re talking $1 billion for a satellite, as well as the national security capability that satellite represents, as well as how long it would take you to get replacement capability for that, you just don’t want to take the risk.”

Two U.S. commercial space companies, Orbital Sciences Corp. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., have the potential to launch national security assets.

Orbital, based in Virginia, has delivered or had under contract 1,000 satellites, launch vehicles and other space-related systems since 1982. The company says it provides full-service engineering, production and technical services for NASA, DOD and commercial and academic space programs, and is supplying commercial cargo resupply services for the International Space Station.

SpaceX, established in 2002, reports that it has developed two new launch vehicles; has a manifest for light, medium and heavy-lift space launches into 2017; and has received commercial off-the-shelf funding from NASA to demonstrate delivery and return of cargo to the space station.

Shelton said the Air Force distributed a step-by-step guide to certification for national security launches in October. Commercial companies, he said, “just need to give us adequate insight to [their history of] commercial missions so we can assure ourselves that no corners were cut, that we understand their process, the reliability of the components [and] their capabilities.”

“Once they’ve proven that with a number of missions,” he added, “they’ll be ready to go.”