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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
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