Publicly available data suggests that a Russian inspector satellite has shifted its position in orbit to bring it relatively close to a U.S. KH-11 spy satellite. Russia has a number of what it calls "space apparatus inspectors" in orbit, which the U.S. government and others warn the Kremlin could use to gather intelligence on other satellites or function as "killer satellites," using various means to damage, disable, or destroy those targets.
The area in the outer reaches of the Earth's atmosphere is a swarm of manmade objects, moving at tens of thousands of miles per hour and traversing a region hundreds of thousands of times larger than all of Earth's oceans combined. This complicates the operation of satellites for military use. DARPA has just announced its plans to come to grips with this chaotic region with the launch of a project aimed at revolutionizing the US military's command and control capabilities in space.
The first stage of the project, known as the Hallmark Software Testbed (Hallmark-ST) aims to design cutting-edge software architecture capable of supporting tools and data from a diverse range of sources.
For years now, the program to develop the X-37B spacecraft has been shrouded in secrecy. Originally intended as part of a NASA project to develop a reusable unmanned spacecraft, this Boeing-designed spaceplane was taken over by the Department of Defense in 2004. And while it has been successfully tested on multiple occasions, there remain some unanswered questions as to its intended purpose and what has been taking place during these flights.
This, predictably, has lead to all kinds of rumors and speculation, with some suggesting that it could be a spy plane while others think that it is intended to deliver space-based weapons. It’s latest mission – which was dubbed OTV-4 (Orbital Test Vehicle-4) – has been especially clandestine. And after nearly a year in orbit, it remains unclear what the X37B has been doing up there all this time.
The National Reconnaissance Office released Oct. 22 a trove of declassified records —including this silent video and photos below — from the 1960s about a military human spaceflight program.
The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) would have sent military astronauts to a small space station.
The cover story of MOL was that the U.S. Air Force was testing the “military usefulness” of humans into space, but the real purpose of the program was to operate a reconnaissance satellite for the NRO.
President Nixon cancelled the program in June 1969, before its first flight, because of its increasing costs and the improved performance of unmanned reconnaissance satellites.
A mysterious Russian satellite that squeezed next to two Intelsat satellites and alarmed company executives has an “extremely small” chance of a collision, a Russian space expert told state-run media.
Ivan Moiseyev, the head of Russia’s Space Policy Institute, told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti in an Oct. 20 story that “the possibility of a collision or some kind of interference is extremely small.”
The Russian satellite, alternatively known as Luch or Olymp, launched in September 2014 and seven months later moved to a position directly between the Intelsat 7 and Intelsat 901 satellites, which are located within half a degree of one another in geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers above the equator.
In late September, the satellite moved again, according to an analysis published Oct. 5 by Brian Weeden, technical adviser at the Secure World Foundation.
The satellite has now settled at 24.4 degrees west longitude, right next to the Intelsat 905 satellite at 24.5 degrees west, according to information available on the space tracking website n2yo.com, which republishes U.S. Defense Department data.
Moiseyev said the Luch “is simply a relay satellite, sending signals from spacecraft to Earth, for example from the International Space Station — we have communications problems there — and from one satellite to another.”
“In no way can it be an ‘aggressor,’” he told the state news agency. “Any satellite can make some clumsy maneuvers, but collisions are extremely rare.”
The statements appear to be the first comments from Russia about the satellite. The Space Policy Institute, also known as ICP, was established by the Russian space agency and other government agencies in 1993 as an independent and nonprofit research organization.
A mysterious Russian satellite that spent five months parked between two Intelsat satellites left that location in late September and has now cozied up to a third Intelsat satellite.
The Russian satellite, alternatively known as Luch or Olymp, launched in September 2014 and seven months later moved to a position directly between the Intelsat 7 and Intelsat 901 satellites, which are located within half a degree of one another in geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers above the equator.
But in late September, the satellite moved again, according to an analysis published Oct. 5 by Brian Weeden, technical adviser at the Secure World Foundation.
The satellite has now settled at 24.4 degrees west longitude, right next to the Intelsat 905 satellite at 24.5 degrees west, according to information available on the space tracking website n2yo.com, which republishes Defense Department data.
Kay Sears, president of Intelsat General, the government services arm of satellite operator Intelsat of Luxembourg and McLean, Virginia, has described the satellite’s movements as “irresponsible.”
While the Russian satellite’s mission is not clear, sources said, its maneuvers have been the subject of classified meetings within the Defense Department and captured the attention of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. One U.S. government official said options are being developed for addressing these types of situations.
A mysterious Russian military satellite parked itself between two Intelsat satellites in geosynchronous orbit for five months this year, alarming company executives and leading to classified meetings among U.S. government officials.
The Russian satellite, alternatively known as Luch or Olymp, launched in September 2014 and seven months later moved to a position directly between the Intelsat 7 and Intelsat 901 satellites, which are located within half a degree of one another 36,000 kilometers above the equator. At times, the Russian satellite maneuvered to about 10 kilometers of the Intelsat space vehicles, sources said, a distance so close that company leaders believed their satellites could be at risk.
The satellite’s movements were highlighted by Brian Weeden, technical adviser at the Secure World Foundation, in an Oct. 5 analysis of Russian rendezvous and proximity operations for SpaceNews’ sister publication, the Space Review.
“This is not normal behavior and we’re concerned,” Kay Sears, president of Intelsat General, the government services arm of Intelsat, said in an Oct. 8 interview with SpaceNews. “We absolutely need responsible operators. Space is a domain that has to be protected.”
Commander of U.S. Air Force Space Command, Gen. John Hyten, revealed that the two Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program satellites in orbit have started taking photos of other satellites operating in geosynchronous orbit.
China’s military is getting its ducks in a row for what many experts see as a realistic competence at destroying US aircraft carriers during a confrontation scenario over Taiwan.
In a recent issue of the Chinese-language state-run China Youth Daily newspaper, a report claims that the Gaofen-4 geostationary earth observation satellite will be launched by the end of this year with the express purpose of hunting US aircraft carriers. The satellite is equipped with a visible light imager at 50 meters and infrared staring optical imager at 400 meters.
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) believes its Dream Chaser could be a viable alternative to the Boeing X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle for long-duration, recoverable experimentation in space.
The company says its vehicle, which is still in development, could be called upon to support the kinds of missions the US Air Force is currently conducting with the X-37B.
With an updated, folding-wing design unveiled earlier this year, SNC’s Dream Chaser can be launched inside a standard Atlas V or Delta IV payload fairing and can “stay on orbit well in excess of a year”, the company says.
SNC Space Systems corporate vice-president Mark Sirangelo says that while he cannot say what types of missions the Orbital Test Vehicle programme is trying to accomplish, Dream Chaser would be a larger and viable alternative to Boeing’s experimental spacecraft.
Five years ago, [the author] provided an analysis of the rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) of two Chinese satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). (See “Dancing in the dark: The orbital rendezvous of SJ-12 and SJ-06F”, The Space Review, August 30, 2010.) The article compared the event with similar RPO activities by American and European satellites and concluded that even though there was evidence the two Chinese satellites “bumped” into each other, it was more likely to be the demonstration of an on-orbit satellite inspection capability than an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon. The article also highlighted the fact that RPO would be a significant policy challenge for the future of space security and stability. In 2013, another launch of three small Chinese satellites raised further concerns when one satellite began conducting another series of RPO with an older Chinese satellite, first in July 2013 and again in May 2014.
Although China’s RPO activities in space are still a significant concern for the US national security space community, Russian activities have recently become more of a concern as well. Four Russian space launches in 2013 and 2014 in particular have sparked interest. Three of the launches placed small Russian military satellites into LEO; two of those satellites have conducted RPO activities with Russian rocket stages, and one appears to have “bumped” into the rocket stage near which it was maneuvering. The fourth launch was a Russian military satellite to geostationary Earth orbit (GSO). In the one year since its launch, the satellite has moved several times to different positions in the GSO belt of active satellites. Two of those stops were somewhat close to newly launched Russian satellites, and the third was between and very close to two Intelsat commercial communications satellites.
Russia's only geostationary early-warning satellite, Cosmos-2479, launched in March 2012, has ceased operations. In March-April 2014 the satellite did not perform its regular station-keeping maneuver and, according to Kommersant, was formally declared nonoperational by the ministry of defense in April 2014.
It was June 1969 and a senior official with the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, or MOL, program was testifying behind closed doors in front of a congressional committee. He was explaining the value of MOL to a supportive audience that was glad to see the nation starting up another major human spaceflight program at the same time that Apollo was heading down. The speaker was talking when somebody handed him a note. He then informed the committee that he had just learned that President Nixon had canceled the MOL program. The room erupted in protest.
But the decision was made: MOL was dead.
Light detection and ranging (lidar), one of the latest sensor technologies to get a boost thanks to the Afghanistan war, could make its way to space.
Lidar could follow in the footsteps of wide-area motion imagery, full-motion video and hyperspectral technologies that have also garnered interest and funding due to their ability to be tested and prove their value in Iraq and Afghanistan.
National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Director Betty Sapp highlighted the High-Altitude Lidar Operational Experiment (Haloe) program as a success for quickly providing three-dimensional, high-resolution mapping of areas in Afghanistan. Though she did not directly say NRO has lidar sensors in orbit, she introduced the Haloe project after noting that her agency often test-flew payloads for satellites in airborne applications to validate them prior to launch.
Developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), the payload has been deployed to both Africa and Afghanistan. It was originally deployed on a WB-57 in 2010 to survey 72,000 sq. km of land there. This was roughly 10% of Afghanistan, according to Darpa Director Arati Prabhakar in recent testimony to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
he U.S. Air Force is planning to launch two new and previously classified space situational awareness satellites into geosynchronous orbit this year, according to Gen. William Shelton, who leads Air Force Space Command.
The spacecraft were developed covertly by the Air Force and Orbital Sciences under the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSAP), according to service officials.
The first two spacecraft will be boosted this year with two more to follow in 2016 to prevent a gap in surveillance on activities in the geosynchronous belt, Shelton said at the annual Air Force Association Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando. This is where commercial satellite communications are based, as well as critical national security assets such as the Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) early missile warning system and Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) constellation designed to provide jam-proof communications for the president even during a nuclear event.
“One cheap shot” against Sbirs or AEHF would be “devastating” to the Pentagon’s capabilities, Shelton said of a potential anti-satellite attack.
The two GSAP satellites will “drift” above and below the GEO belt, using electro-optical sensors to collect information on satellites and other objects in that region, Shelton said. They will be maneuverable, allowing them to be “tasked,” much like reconnaissance aircraft, to collect intelligence on specific targets, he said. The satellites will provide “accurate tracking and characterization” of satellites, according to an Air Force fact sheet released after Shelton’s speech here.
The very fact that the Air Force has developed and is deploying such a capability underscores concerns from government officials about the vulnerability of satellites that have become interwoven in government operations at all levels. The GPS constellation is already easily jammable because its signal is relatively weak, but officials worry about more widespread jamming as well as kinetic attacks.
Boeing will expand its presence in Florida by adding technology, engineering and support jobs at the Kennedy Space Center. Financial and employment details are not being disclosed.
Investments will be made to convert the former space shuttle facility, OPF-1, to a facility that would enable the U.S. Air Force to efficiently land, recover, refurbish, and re-launch the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), a 29-foot-long, reusable unmanned spacecraft.
