Saturday, February 22, 2014

New Satellites to Watch Space Junk, Foreign Spacecraft

File:SBSS1 satellite 01092011.jpg
The Space Based Space Surveillance I satellite photographed passing through the Constellation Cygnus the Swan, by Marco Langbroek of the Netherlands on 2011 September 1.
(Image Source: Wikipedia.org )

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The United States plans to launch a pair of satellites to keep tabs on spacecraft from other countries orbiting 22,300 miles above the planet, as well as to track space debris, the head of Air Force Space Command said.

The previously classified Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) will supplement ground-based radars and optical telescopes in tracking thousands of pieces of debris so orbital collisions can be avoided, General William Shelton said at the Air Force Association meeting in Orlando on Friday.

He called it a "neighborhood watch program" that will provide a more detailed perspective on space activities. He said the satellites, scheduled to be launched this year, also will be used to ferret out potential threats from other spacecraft.

The program "will bolster our ability to discern when adversaries attempt to avoid detection and to discover capabilities they may have which might be harmful to our critical assets at these higher altitudes," Shelton said in the speech, which also was posted on the Air Force Association's website.

More - Link >>> http://news.yahoo.com/u-air-force-reveals-neighborhood-watch-39-spy-191025756--sector.html

Source: Reuters News Wire Service

More on the U.S. Department of Defense Space Based Space Surveillance System:
Link >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Based_Space_Surveillance

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1 comment:

  1. Japan has started to thinking seriously about a militarized program focusing on space.In space, space junk is the bigger problem to realize all countries.In this process Japan has taken a step forward and going to protect the satellites from dangerous debris orbiting the earth.Soon, Japan is going to develop a military space force for protecting satellites.This military space division is going to started by 2019.In this US and Japaneese governments are working together.To know more details :

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