Space Detection and Tracking System

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The Space Detection and Tracking System (SPADATS) (German: space location and object tracking system) is a system within the air defense of the USA . SPADATS forms a worldwide network with optical and electronic sensors, which was initially served with information by the United States Air Force (USAF), the United States Navy (USN) and the Canadian Forces Air Defense Command Satellite Tracking Unit . The main task of SPADATS is to provide an overview of objects ( spacecraft , space debrisu. a.) in the near-earth area and to forward analyzes of these objects to the command posts of the US air defense and other institutions. Administrative control of SPADATS was initially held by the USAF's Continental Air Command (CONAD). In the second half of the 1980s, the name Space Surveillance Network (SSN) was used instead of SPADATS in literature from around 1988 . This new name involved a technical upgrade to modern radar systems for object tracking and recognition.

Beginnings of satellite observation

As on 4 October 1957, the first satellite , Sputnik 1, the Soviet Union orbited the Earth, responded members of the USAF Cambridge Research Laboratories on the LG Hanscom Field in Bedford in the US state Massachusetts on where they later two days on the roof of the laboratory Set up observation station. In December 1958, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) began a satellite orbit tracking program, which was handed over to the USAF after a few months. In early 1959, the USAF started the codenamed 496L System Program Office (SOP) at Hanscom Field. In the same year the National Space Surveillance Control Center (NSSCC) was set up there, which was put into operation on January 1, 1960. This center, with its computing capacity, formed the starting point for setting up a network of observation stations for satellites and other space projects. In October 1959 it was decided that the USAF, the DARPA and the USN should develop a joint system that should enable the trajectory of spatial objects as a network. This system formed the starting point for the SPADATS system.

Coordination in the command center of NORAD

Since December 12, 1957, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) existed in the area of Cheyenne Mountain (US state Colorado ). In June 1960, the computing and data capacity of the SOP was relocated from Bedford to the NORAD headquarters and renamed the SPACETRACK system . Towards the end of 1960, the Satellite Identification Tracking Unit (SITU), which was stationed on the Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in the province of Alberta , was integrated into the command of NORAD. On November 7, 1960, operational control of SPADATS was transferred to NORAD and operational command of SPADATS to CONAD. SPADATS supported the NSSCC when NORAD took control of the NSSCC. The main components of SPADATS in 1960 were the USAF SPACETRACK system (code name 496l) and the USN Space Surveillance (SPASUR) system (NAVSPASUR). These two systems were independently commanded by the USAF and USN until the summer of 1961. On February 1, 1961, the NAVSPASUR system was linked to SPADATS under the operational control of the Commander in Chief, North American Aerospace Defense Command (CINCNORAD).

On February 9, 1961, USAF Chief of Staff General Thomas D. White transferred the responsibilities of space surveillance from the Air Research and Development Center (later renamed Air Force Systems Command , AFSC) to the Aerospace Defense Command (ADC), the official date for setting up SPADATS. (Later renamed the 1st Space Operations Squadron - 1 SOPS) on 14 February 1961, the first Aerospace Surveillance and Control Squadron at Ent Air Force Base , Colorado Springs in the US state Colorado set up to cater to the service with the SPADATS Prepare Center . The unit also took over computer control of the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System ( BMEWS ) and screen control in NORAD. On March 14, 1961 the NSSCC was renamed the SPADATS Center .

The electronic catalog in NORAD for man-made spatial objects was created as part of SPADATS on July 1, 1961.

SPADATS was transferred to Ent Air Force Base on July 3, 1961. The SPADATS Center and the SPACETRACK Center were merged at this time. In March 1964, the Cheyenne Mountain Task Force recommended moving area surveillance to the deeply protected area of Cheyenne Mountain . This recommendation was implemented until February 6, 1967, when the Cheyenne Mountain Complex went live. This also moved SPADATS from Ent Air Base to Cheyenne Mountain. In the following years up to 1971, more and more sensor systems were connected to SPADATS in order to take on new tasks of early warning of attacks on the USA. From 1971 to 1998 the transmission times of the sensor systems and the monitoring options for SPADATS were further expanded so that attacks on US satellites could also be monitored and reported. In 1988 the decision was made to form the Space Surveillance Center (SSC), which had the task of coordinating the worldwide Space Surveillance Network (SSN). In August 2007, the SSC was relocated to Vandenberg Air Force Base and the SSC was renamed the Joint Space Operations Center (JSPOC). The USAF's executive unit with regard to the SSN's orders was the 1st Space Control Squadron of the USAF Space Command (AFSC). The unit worked there in five groups around the clock, 365 days a year. In 2006 more than 100,000 observations for objects were made by satellites in one day. On June 9, 2008, the unit ceased service, with members of the unit being transferred to the 614th Air and Space Operations Center.

Device systems

The first military beginnings in the USA with the observation of space objects in the near-earth area began in 1957 with the project Minitrack for tracking the movement of satellites. From 1960 to the beginning of the 1990s there was a worldwide network of Baker-Nunn cameras that were used for spatial observation and were able to deliver data to SPADATS. Most of the stations were put into operation between 1960 and 1977. The USAF camera stations were located at Sand Island in the Pacific, Jupiter in Florida, at USAF Edwards in California, at St. Margarets, New Brunswick and at Cold Lake (Alberta) in Canada, at Pulmosan in South Korea, at San Vito in Italy, on Mount John in New Zealand, near Santiago in Chile and Harestua in Norway. Another twelve camera stations from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory provided data to SPADATS.

Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS)

GEODSS facility on Diego Garcia

The GEODSS brought a significant improvement in data transmission for SPADATS from 1982, with three observation systems being set up: one on Diego Garcia , one on Maui , Hawaii and another in Socorro, New Mexico . While the Baker-Nunn cameras recorded the observations on film, the GEODSS stations were equipped with television cameras and computer-aided data transmission. One station could observe up to 200 objects in the night. However, the observation stations were only able to work for a few hours at night in good weather. In the 1990s, all GEODSS systems were upgraded as part of upgrade programs such as B. G EODSS Modification Program (GMP) and Deep STARE upgraded.

Radar systems

At the beginning of the 1970s, SPADATS had the first powerful radar systems that were suitable for object tracking and detection through its information systems SPACETRACK and US Naval Space Surveillance System (NAV-SPASUR). A catalog of stored frequency patterns was used to identify the spatial objects. The USAF began in those years already systems with phase-controlled array radar (Phased Array Radar) a.

From 1970 the following radar systems were used at various bases around the world within SPACETRACK.

  • AN / GPS-10 at Ko Kha in Thailand
  • AN / FPS-17 at Shemya in Alaska and at Diyarbakir in Turkey
  • AN / FPS-49 at Thule in Greenland and at Fylingdales in Great Britain (GB)
  • AN / FPS-50 at Thule in Greenland, Clear in Alaska and Fylingdales in the UK
  • AN / FPS-79 at Diyarbakir in Turkey
  • AN-FPS-80 on Shemya Island
  • AN / FPS-85 at Eglin Air Force Base , Florida
  • AN / FPS-92 at Clear, Alaska
  • AN / FPS-99 at Clear in Alaska

literature

  • SPADATS Operational - Space Watcher Joins NORAD Defense Net . In: Skyline Observer , July 1961
  • Frank C. Lisle, Stanley D. Davis: A Design Concept of the Control and Computation Equipment for a SPADATS Phased Array Radar . Rome Air Development Center Griffiss AFB NY, May 1962
  • Philco Newport Beach Calif. Aeronutric Div., Space Detection and Tracking System (SPADATS) Semi-Automatic Center Programming Document (Revised), Fort Belvoir Defense Technical Information Center, May 1, 1962
  • Wolf Research and Development Corp. West Concord MA, SPADATS System Support, January 1963
  • CG Hilton: The SPADATS Mathematical Model . Fort Belvoir Defense Technical Information Center, Report ESD-TDR- 63-427, Aeronutronic Publication U-2202, August 5, 1963
  • GA McCue, DF Bender, JG Williams, AS Leonard: Optical Observance of Faint Satellites , July 1964
  • Samuel C. Beamer: Nerve Center for Space Defense . October 1973
  • Robert F. Futrell: Ideas, Concepts and Doctrine: A History of Basic Thinking in the United States Air Force 1907-1964 . 2nd Edition. Maxwell AFB, Alabama, Air University, 1974
  • Larry E. Telford: Tropospheric Refractive Studies for Spadats Radar Sites . Fort Belvoir Defense Technical Information Center, May 1979
  • Gary Federici: From the Sea to the Stars ( October 29, 2013 memento in the Internet Archive ) , 1997

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ SPADATS is also known as the Space Defense Acquisition and Tracking System , see: Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, Ballistic Missile Defense Glossary Version 3.0 AD-A338 544, Department of Defense, 7100 Defense Pentagon, Washington DC 20301-7100, June 1997
  2. ↑ see: Wehrkunde , Volume 11, 1962, p. 156
  3. ^ Curtis Peebles, High Frontier: The US Air Force and the Military Space Program . Upland PA 1997, p. 40
  4. ↑ Bernd Horn: The Canadian way of war: serving the national interest . Toronto, p. 335
  5. ↑ a b Bernd Horn, ibid, p. 335
  6. ↑ a b c d NORAD Selected Chronology. Federation of American Scientists, accessed on April 5, 2013 (handover of the SPADATS system to NORAD operations control on November 7, 1960).
  7. ^ Until May 1981: Commander in Chief - North American Air Defense Command
  8. ↑ February 9, 1961: official time for the establishment of SPADATS ( memento of October 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ Aeronautical And Astronautical Events of 1961. (PDF; 2.5 MB) NASA, 1962, p. 31 , accessed on April 5, 2013 (English): "The space detection and tracking systems (Spadats) began NORAD operations as scheduled, a system which "detects, tracks, and identifies manmade objects in space and consolidates and displays information regarding such objects."
  10. ↑ History Milestones ( Memento from May 2, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  11. ^ NORAD Selected Chronology. Federation of American Scientists, accessed April 5, 2013 (other sources give July 3, 1961).
  12. ↑ a b Handbook for Limiting Orbital Debris. (PDF; 3.7 MB) In: NASA Handbook 8719.14. NASA, July 30, 2008, p. 43 , accessed April 5, 2013 .
  13. ↑ David N. Spiers, Beyond Horizons - A Half Century of Air Force Space Leadership . 2nd Edition. Washington DC 2001, p. 237
  14. ↑ George T. Hacket: Space debris and the corpus iuris spatialis . Gif-sur-Yvette, 1994, p. 3
  15. ↑ Home page of the Joint Space Operations Center ( Memento from February 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  16. ↑ Home page of the US Air Force Space Command (English)
  17. ^ 1st Space Control Squadron inactivates, joins 14th AOC. (No longer available online.) US Air Force, June 9, 2008, archived from the original on March 3, 2016 ; accessed on April 5, 2013 .
  18. ^ A b Curtis Peebles, High Frontier: The US Air Force and the Military Space Program . Air Force History and Museums Program, 1997, pp. 39-40
  19. ^ Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance. (No longer available online.) US Air Force, September 15, 2010, archived from the original on July 21, 2012 ; accessed on August 16, 2011 .
  20. ↑ GEODSS, Ground Based-Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance. Federation of American Scientists, June 28, 1997, accessed April 5, 2013 .
  21. ^ Robert C. Aldridge: First Strike - The Pentagon's Strategy for Nuclear War . Boston 1983, p. 215
  22. ^ Det 3, 21st Operations Group. (No longer available online.) US Air Force, Aug. 16, 2012, archived from the original on Feb. 26, 2013 ; accessed on April 5, 2013 .
  23. ^ Walter J. Faccenda: GEODSS: Past And Future Improvements. (PDF; 157 kB) 2000, accessed on April 5, 2013 (English).
  24. ^ Paul B. Stares: Space weapons and US strategy: origins and development . London 1985, p. 132
  25. ↑ AN / FPS-85 Spacetrack Radar. globalsecurity.org, July 21, 2011, accessed on April 5, 2013 (English, description of the AN / FPS-85 radar for tracing spatial objects).