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It’s getting crowded up there
April 3rd, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Michael Hoffman
More than 19,000 man-made objects circle Earth with that number growing each day.
Put simply: It’s getting crowded up there.
The problem didn’t gain much exposure until the Chinese anti-satellite demonstration in 2007 and more recently in mid-March when debris came dangerously close to hitting the International Space Station. The near-miss came less than a month after an inactive Russian satellite slammed into a U.S. commercial satellite — obliterating both and adding more debris into orbit.
Now, the leaders are keenly sensitive to the increased risks posed by debris and the Air Force is working to predict space collisions by doing what it calls conjunction analysis. Right now, the service can do conjunction analysis on about 330 active U.S. satellites and intends to up that number to 800 by October, said Col. Dusty Tyson, chief of the Air Force’s space control division.
Tyson and experts addressed space debris at a breakout session of the 25th National Space Symposium held here the week of March 30.
Donley worried about space industry
April 3rd, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Michael Hoffman
Air Force Secretary Michael Donley wrapped up the National Space Symposium saying he was concerned with the health of the space industry and emphasized the need to improve space surveillance.
Donley warned that “the spigot of defense spending is tightening” and the space industry better prepare for it, but the development of critical space capabilities remain a top priority.
One such capability is improving the tracking of objects in Earth’s orbit made evident by the February collision between an U.S. commercial satellite and an inactive Russian satellite.
“The recent conjunction is the latest and most severe example of what could be a systemic problem,” Donley said.
Going beyond “static cataloguing” of space objects at the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg, Calif., will be important, he said noting the impending launch of the first Space Based Space Surveillance satellite.
Space Fence could come to Australia
April 2nd, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Michael Hoffman
The Air Force’s new version of Space Fence could have one of its first ground stations built in Australia, said Gary Payton, deputy under secretary of the Air Force for space programs.
The new radar system designed to track objects orbiting in space is scheduled to have one of its first sites built by 2015, Payton said.
Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grunman are competing to build the new Space Fence.
It’s estimated that Space Fence could detect about 100,000 more objects than the 19,000 already tracked by the current version of Space Fence at the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
Tags: Australia, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grunman, Raytheon, Space Fence
Intelsat General wants dialogue with Pentagon
April 2nd, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Ben Iannotta
A Russian Proton rocket launches an Intelsat communications satellite.
Intelsat General, a company formed out of the communications giant four years ago to sell bandwidth for military applications, hopes to convince the Pentagon to share details about its future unmanned air vehicle communications plans.
Intelsat then could take steps to ensure that the frequencies and transponder sizes of its next satellites mesh with the Pentagon’s UAV requirements, said Kay Sears, President of Intelsat General.
The Air Force uses Intelsat ku-band satellites to control its Predator and Global Hawk unmanned aircraft from bases in the United States. New versions of the planes could be equipped with ka-band equipment which would make them compatible with the Wideband Global Satcom spacecraft the U.S. has begun to launch.
The U.S. Navy, for example, plans to use WGS satellites to communicate with its forthcoming Broad Area Maritime Surveillance aircraft, which will be versions of Global Hawk UAVs.
Sears said she does not see WGS replacing commercial satellites when it comes to UAV communications. “What we’ve been told is we should not expect a lot of changes, there is so much demand,” she said.
New GPS signal faces critical moment
April 2nd, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Ben Iannotta
An artist's rendering of a Lockheed Martin GPS satellite
On April 10, Lockheed Martin plans to begin transmitting a third civilian signal from the Air Force’s new GPS 2R-M satellite, a demonstrate intended to keep the U.S. from losing its international license to operate at the new civilian frequency, called L–5, the company said.
Lockheed added a $6-million L-5 demonstration transmitter to the GPS 2R-M at the request of the Air Force after Boeing ran behind in construction of its version of the GPS satellites, the GPS 2Fs.
The U.S. has until August to begin transmitting the L-5 frequency from middle Earth orbit or it will lose its license from the United Nation’s International Telecommunications Union.
American defense officials feared China, or another country, could acquire the frequency, which on future GPS satellites the government plans to use to refine GPS’s accuracy to land aircraft and other “safety of life” applications.
The L-5 transmitter on GPS 2R-M, launched on March 24, is a demonstration version. “We’re just sending the frequency to lock in the license,” said Donald DeGryse, vice president for navigation systems at Lockheed Martin.
Tags: China, GPS, L-5, Lockheed Martin
Intelsat: ‘We’d put a sensor on every satellite’
April 2nd, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Michael Hoffman
Richard DalBello, a vice president with Intelsat which has the world’s largest commercial satellite fleet, spoke with the Show Scout about space surveillance and the relationship between the space industry and the U.S. military on that issue.
Q: How is the relationship building between the U.S. military and the space industry in regards to improving space surveillance?
A: Last year at Strategic Space in Omaha, Neb., our CEO stood up and said we’d put a sensor on every satellite.
Q: What are some of the challenges you see with data sharing between commercial companies and the government?
A: The initial one is that it can’t interfere with the commercial mission. We wouldn’t be a sensor program. We’re not looking to replace a military program. What we’re saying is if you have developed optical or IR wave length sensor that would be relevant to this mission, and if you could supply it, we would be interested in putting them on our satellites. It’s a mutual benefit because obviously we would look to have some lease revenue from that but we’d also contribute data. Eventually you could have the whole geo-arc linked with sensor so you could have better awareness for what is going on.
Q:How far off is the military and space industry from making serious progress on relationship to collect large amounts of data from commercial satellites?
A: It’s a slow progress. It’s hard to get people to work across company boundaries and really hard to get people to work across international boundaries. We’re closer than anything on the data center, but we’re still not there yet. What we said is that if we can actually create this model where you could add other things, like you could easily add RF interference data on top of that. But there is a lot that goes into it. You have a lot of issues. You have to deal with all the legal issues and liability and identification. You have to deal with practical technical issues and validation of information. How do you know something is true.
Tags: Air Force, Intelsat, National Space Symposium 2009, space surveillance
White House to weigh DoD-intelligence community satellite divorce
April 2nd, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Ben Iannotta
NRO Director Scott Large said his agency awaits direction from the Pentagon and director of national intelligence.
The Pentagon and intelligence community have presented the Obama administration with a proposal that would set defense and intelligence officials on largely separate courses in construction of next-generation electro-optical reconnaissance satellites, said current and former intelligence and defense officials.
The intelligence community would fund construction of so-called “exquisite” satellites able to discern small objects on the ground. The Pentagon would build “commercial”-class satellites for wide-area surveillance, said an official familiar with the proposal.
Another person familiar with the proposal said the new acquisition strategy would provide a “pathway” for defense and intelligence officials to share imagery from their separate satellites.
The proposal culminates an independent, “EO way ahead review” led by Paul Kaminiski, a former Clinton administration Pentagon acquisition chief, who gathered former defense and intelligence officials and asked them to speak their minds.
Details of the proposal are spelled out in a classified agreement signed several days ago by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, officials said. Gates and Blair forwarded their proposal to White House officials the next day.
Scott Large, director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) which manages construction of spy satellites, declined to elaborate on the proposal.
“I’m not going to get into anything going on with the way forward because it’s in play with the administration and the Hill,” he said. “We’re waiting to hear back from [Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair about] what they want us to go do.”
The proposal appeared to be the first, tangible result of a proposal by Air Force Gen. C. Robert Kehler, commander of Air Force Space Command, to allow intelligence and military officials to fund construction of their own reconnaissance satellites. Congress and White House officials have generally tried to force the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies to share reconnaissance gathered by the NRO’s spy satellites.
Kehler has said, “One size does not fit all.”
Tags: Blair, Gates, NRO, way ahead reveiw
Global space spending increased $6 billion last year
April 1st, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Michael Hoffman
Despite the global economic downturn, worldwide space revenues rose by 2.5 percent to $257 billion in 2008, according the Space Foundation.
Space product and services saw the largest growth inside the worldwide space economy increasing by 10.4 percent from $82.4 billion to $91 billion, according ot the foundation’s 2009 Space Report.
Although spending increased, space stocks did decrease in 2008 like the rest of the global market. The Space Foundation tracks 29 public companies inside the commercial space industry. Of those 29 companies, their stock dropped 45 percent in 2008.
However, Space Foundation Chief Executive Officer Elliot Pulham said space remains a strong business.
“The Space Report clearly illustrates that, although our industry is also feeling the pain of the economic downturn, space businesses have out-performed many other sectors,” he said in a press release.
Tags: economy, industry, Space Report
Thinking realistically on TSAT
April 1st, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Ben Iannotta
Killing TSAT could shine the spotlight on the Wideband Global Satcom spacecraft, one of which is seen here awaiting launch.
Boeing appears to be positioning itself for the demise of the proposed Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) program.
Observers here suspect TSAT is on the Obama administration’s list of defense budget cuts for 2010, a spending plan expected to be released in late April or early May.
If built as advertised, TSAT would revolutionize battlefield communications with higher data rates and communications on the move.
Lockheed Martin and Boeing have been studying its technologies under Air Force contracts. If TSAT were to stay on plan, the competition to build the first satellites would get underway this year. But few here expect that plan to proceed.
“We’re in a different economy now than when TSAT was” initiated, said Craig Cooning, Boeing’s manager for space and intelligence systems. “I think there other options that Boeing can deliver.”
Cooning said Boeing engineers are making modifications to the fourth and fifth planned Wideband Global Satcom satellites to increase their airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance coverage, for example.
Take space out of STRATCOM
April 1st, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Michael Hoffman
A former commander of both U.S. Space Command and Air Force Space Command, Air Force Gen. Howell M. Estes, told an audience of military and industry leaders that U.S. Strategic Command should not have space as one of its responsibilities.
“I worry we have put space under a command that also has a lot of missions…Space is one of eight. It’s time to make space one of one again,” he said.
U.S. Strategic Command has nuclear, cyber, intelligence, information operations and weapons of mass destruction responsibilities to go along with its space mission. Estes said thats just too much for one command to handle.
U.S. Strategic Command Deputy Commander Vice Adm. Carl Mauney is scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon at the symposium. It’ll be interesting to see if he shares Estes’ sentiments.
Wideband Global Satcom no. 2 poised for launch
April 1st, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Ben Iannotta
Boeing's Craig Cooning, manager of space and intelligence systems, talks with reporters.
The second U.S. Wideband Global Satcom satellite appears to be a go for launch Friday evening, April 3, from Florida, said Boeing’s Craig Cooning, manager of the company’s space and intelligence systems, after meeting with Air Force officials.
The second WGS satellite will be stationed in geosynchronous orbit over the Indian Ocean to boost communications throughput to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The satellite will be the second satellite in a planned eight satellite constellation ringing the globe.
As military users have familiarized themselves with the first WGS satellite over the Pacific Ocean, they have found unexpected uses, Cooning said. “I think when the second one gets over the Middle East area, they’ll find even more ways to use it,” Cooning told reporters in a media roundtable discussion.
Cooning made clear that the WGS satellites are central to Boeing’s space business plan. The company is currently on contract to build six WGSs. Maintaining a constellation of eight spacecraft would require the government to buy 11 or 12, Cooning said.
At one point, Cooning referred to the U.S. Defense Satellite Communications System satellites, which were built by Lockheed Martin and are to be replaced by the WGSs. “We look forward to [the WGS program] being a long and fruitful endeavor,” he said.
The launch window opens at 8:35 p.m. Within 45 minutes, Boeing should know if reached orbit safely.
Retired space leaders nix separate ‘Space Force’
April 1st, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Michael Hoffman
Asked if a separate Space Force should be stood up as the U.S. military’s fourth service branch, three former commanders of U.S. Space Command and NORAD said the U.S. isn’t ready for that step.
Air Force Gen. John Piotrowski, commander-in-chief of NORAD and U.S. Space Command, 1987-1990
“I am not in favor of it at this time…Until we have people fighting in space it’s probably not necessary.” He went on to explain that the joint service space team under U.S. Strategic Command helps warfighters get the best support from space assets in combat.
Tags: NORAD, Space Force, U.S. Space Command
The buzz over a possible missile warning backup
April 1st, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Ben Iannotta
Lockheed Martin technicians prepare to test the first SBIRS geosynchronous satellite.
The budding U.S. proposal to quickly build a new missile-warning satellite or satellites received a brief mention from the Air Force’s satellite acquisition chief, and is likely to test the improved satellite acquisition strategy he laid out.
Lt. Gen. John “Tom” Sheridan said his more-disciplined approach to satellite development would apply to “conceptual activities that we’re working on…such as IRAS that we’ve talked about here in the halls.”
He was referring to the Infrared Augmentation Satellite, which is the latest name for a proposed program to build a backup missile warning satellite or satellites that would be rushed into orbit.
If it works, IRAS could ease the white knuckles Air Force officials surely must have over the state of today’s Defense Support Program constellation, especially given the North Korean and Iranian missile programs. The newest and last of the existingU.S. infrared satellites has gone adrift in orbit. Meanwhile, officials are watching to see if technical glitches have been resolved in construction of the new Space-based Infrared System satellites, which are designed to replace the almost four-decades-old Defense Support Program constellation.
For one, Sheridan pledged to set a development pace tied to the time-element contained in the requirement underpinning particular programs. “That does not mean at the speed which we acquisition guys think is right. It’s the speed that the war fighter needs our developments,” he said.
Sheridan’s call for more discipline in the requirements process might apply especially to IRAS. “I call this approach, bite off what you can chew. This requires user appetite suppression,” he said. He said compromises would be required all around.
Sheridan also pledged to invest in more research up front. One wonders, though, if there would be time for such research in the case of IRAS. Cobbling a satellite together from existing components might sound straightforward, but rarely is in reality.
Tags: IRAS, missile warning, Sheridan
Space, the chess match
March 31st, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Ben Iannotta
Futurist Alvin Toffler shares his outlook.
Some panelists here are taking the symposium’s theme, “The next space age,” to heart by offering views on what the new age will look like–others are artfully dodging the question.
Military leaders are being cautious, just as one would expect, and are using words like uncertainty a lot when discussing the future.
Gen. C. Robert Kehler, commander of Air Force Space Command, joked that his staff “left our crystal back at the office—it’s never your fault when you’re a four star.”
Keith Hall, a Booz Allen Hamilton partner and a former director of the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite agency, renewed his call for establishment of an overarching space strategy. He seemed worried that the U.S. might be about to give up its space leadership by staying quiet. “I think we’re at the question of whether or not the United States will remain the world leader in…national security space,” he said.
Futurist Alvin Toffler, who was on the panel with Hall, said it was all but inevitable that the U.S. one day would become one of many countries leading in matters of space.
“That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a different thing,” he said.
Speaking on another panel, Lt. Gen. John “Tom” Sheridan, sounded like he wasn’t ready to give up the lead.
He predicted space would become “a three dimensional chess match of enormous size and proportion.” Cyberspace will have to be considered together with physical space: “That is what the future holds for us,” he said.
He said U.S. national security space leaders must learn to operate in a “contested environment” much as air and land commanders learned.
14th AF commander: Space surveillance improving
March 31st, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Michael Hoffman
Lt. Gen. Larry James, 14th Air Force commander, sat down with Show Scout to discuss the progress of space surveillance and manning needs in Air Force Space Command.
Q: How can the Air Force improve its space surveillance?
A: The Air Force is going to improve their capability. That has been in the plans for awhile for space events. We have some experimentation going on in terms of bringing non space surveillance sensors into the network. Now the questions is: How do we take that data and convert it?
Q: How can the Air Force get there?
A: It’s just executing what we have on the books. We have Space Fence on the books so we have to move forward with that. We also have to make sure we move forward with [Space Based Space Surveillance] and we have the launch this summer. We have to move forward with that.
Q: How much is SBSS going to help?
A: That will help a lot because we will not be limited by geography or weather which is limiting now with the ground sensors. We will then be allowed to look at the geosynchronous belt all the time.
Tags: 14th Air Force, Lt. Gen. Larry James, space surveillance
Thinking positive on TSAT
March 31st, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Ben Iannotta
U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. John "Tom" Sheridan outlines his satellite buying approach.
If the proposed multibillion dollar Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) is about to meet the Obama administration’s budget axe, the U.S. Air Force general in charge of satellite acquisitions wasn’t letting on.
Lt. Gen. John “Tom” Sheridan outlined the Air Force’s approach of building successively more complicated versions of satellites, holding the line on requirements, and investing in research early in programs. He said the Space and Missile Systems Center, which he commands, “is working really hard to try to do this on both GPS 3 and TSAT as we start those activities up.”
Sheridan said “both of these are postured to be developed following these acquisition characteristics.”
After his talk, I asked him if this meant TSAT would not be cut: “I don’t have any picture of what the seniors in the department are really deciding, but we at SMC are following what we’ve been given as [decision memos] that tell us to move out with the program. So until we’re told to do differently, we’re getting ready to do that.”
Tags: Air Force, satellite, transformational
Ranking the top threats in space
March 31st, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Michael Hoffman
A panel of officials with representatives from the Air Force, industry and even a former astronaut were asked what they see as the largest threat to U.S. space assets. Here are their answers:
Col. Dusty Tyson, chief of the Air Force’s Space Control Division
“Not knowing what everything is on orbit scares me. I am still interested in knowing what everything is at least at the geosynchronous level.”
Richard Dalbello, vice president of Intelsat General Corporation
“A focused cyber attack could be severely disabling. Not necessarily now but the technology that will evolve over the next decade…We have a lot of stuff in space that needs to be protected.”
Donald R. McMonagle, former astronaut and manager of NASA’s Launch Integration Space Shuttle Program
“Orbital debris. There were times when we had to bring astronauts back inside the space station because of fears of collisions from space debris. If there was an impact that would cause catastrophic damage.”
Tags: Air Force, Intelsat General Corporation, NASA, satellite, space, threat
Kehler: U.S. must continue to invest in space
March 31st, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Michael Hoffman
Despite the economic downturn Air Force Space Command chief Gen. Robert Kehler told an audience of military and space industrial leaders that investments and growth must continue in U.S. space and cyberspace capabilities.
He said the February collision of two satellites and the increasing cyber threat to core U.S. military capabilities have highlighted how U.S. leaders must not lose focus when it comes to space.
Kehler challenged both the Air Force and the space industry to transform the acquisition process of space assets after years of Air Force space projects being delivered late and over budget.
Meanwhile, the downward trend in the U.S. space industrial based has left Air Force leaders worried about the long term health of a U.S. space industrial base the Air Force continues to depend on, Kehler said.
Where the Air Force will see improvements is from the addition of the cyberspace mission to Air Force Space Command over this coming year. He said Air Force Space Command airmen are uniquely suited to take on this mission since space and cyberspace are so interrelated.
“There is lots of room for discovery once we bring cyber space into space command,” Kehler said.
Tags: Air Force Space Command, cyberspace, Gen. Robert Kehler, National Space Symposium, space
Space surveillance sat must wait
March 31st, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Ben Iannotta
Technicians prepare the Space Based Space Surveillance satellite for launch.
Boeing and Ball Aerospace have finished building and testing the U.S. Air Force’s Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) satellite. Now they need a rocket to send it to orbit, where it would use its electro-optical camera to track and image geosynchronous satellites and space debris.
The SBSS satellite was scheduled to ride into space “about now” on an Orbital Sciences Corp. Minotaur 4 rocket, said Boeing’s Todd Citron, who oversees the program. But the U.S. Air Force is awaiting the results of an investigation into a February launch failure involving a similar Orbital Sciences rocket, the Taurus. That rocket deposited a NASA carbon-monitoring satellite into the Pacific Ocean instead of low-Earth orbit.
The contractors are anxious to see SBSS reach space successfully, and soon. The February destruction of an Iridium satellite in a collision with a defunct Russian communications satellite has renewed emphasis on space surveillance in the U.S. and among commercial satellite operators.
A successful SBSS mission could “drive a demand for follow-ons,” said Ball’s Fred Doyle, vice president and general manager of national defense programs fro the company.
Boeing is the SBSS prime contractor and is providing the ground control equipment and software at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado. Ball built the spacecraft’s frame and attached its moveable camera.
Tags: Air Force, Ball Aerospace, Boeing, rocket OCO SBSS Ball Aerospace, SBSS
Raytheon finalizes military broadcast bid
March 31st, 2009 | National Space Symposium | Posted by Ben Iannotta
A U.S. airman in Southwest Asia taps into the Global Broadcast Service.
Raytheon says it has submitted a final proposal to the U.S. Air Force to transition control of broadcasts by the military’s Global Broadcast Service to centralized computing centers.
GBS, which the Air Force describes as “Direct TV for warfighters,” transmits classified and unclassified videos and large files to U.S. forces by military and commercial satellite. Raytheon developed GBS for the Air Force and operates it.
In November, Raytheon announced it had submitted an initial proposal to the Air Force for the “GBS Satellite Broadcast Manager Defense Enterprise Computing Center” contract. Raytheon says it would transition “GBS broadcast functionality” to centralized Defense Information System Agency computing centers.